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THE 


'"P  IT  T  S  -  S  T  R  E  E  T  CHAPEL 


LECTURES. 


DELIVERED    IN   BOSTON   BT    CLERGYMEN   OF    SIX    DIFFERENT 
DENOMINATIONS,  DURING   THE   WINTER   OF    1858. 


"  Be  ready  always  to  give  an  answer  to  every  man  that  asketh  you  a  reason  of  tho 
hope  that  is  in  you."  —  1  Pet.  iii.  15. 


TWELFTH  THOUSAND. 


BOSTON: 

PUBLISHED  BY  JOHN  P.  JEWETT  AND  COMPANY. 

CLEVELAND,    OHIO  : 

HENRY    P.    B.    JEWETT. 

1858. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1858,  by 

JOHN  P.  JEWETT  AND  COMPANY, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts 


LITHOTTPED     BY     COWLES     AND     COMPANY, 

No.  17;  Washington  Street, 
BOSTON. 


INTRODUCTION 


In  Boston^  ten  of  the  Unitarian  Societies  nnite  —  under  the  name  of 
the  Benevolent  Fraternity  of  Churches  —  to  support  Free  Chapels,  and 
to  send  ministers  to  those  having  none.  As  these  ministers  are  limited 
to  no  class,  they  am  called  Ministers-at-large.  Connected  with  the 
Ministry-at-large,  is  Pitts-Street  Chapel. 

The  "Pitts-Street  Chapel  Associates/*  a  society  of  men,  last  year 
invited  ministers  from  six  denominations  to  preach  at  the  Chapel  from 
the  text,  "  What  shall  I  do  to  be  saved  1 "  This  course  of  sermons  was 
eminently  successful  as  to  attendance  and  results.  This  year  the  same 
association  invited  clergymen  from  six  denominations  to  preach  a  series 
of  sermons  in  which  each  should  plainly  declare  why  he  is  compelled  to 
•hold  and  teach  his  creed.  The  interest  in  this  course  was  so  wide  spread 
and  intense,  that  a  call  has  been  made  for  the  publication  of  the  same. 
Hence  the  issue  of  the  present  volume. 

By  having  and  publishing  tliis  course,  some  have  been  led  to  ask  as  to 
the  Chapel :  "  What  is  your  distinctive  belief"?  or  have  you  none?  "  We 
answer,  that  we  have  a  distinctive  and  a  distinct  belief,  which  may  be 
hinted  at  here. 

I.  —  1.  We  find  no  command  as  to  the  form  of  church  government  in 
Scripture,  and  therefore  adopt  that  which  we  prefer,  namely :  the  Con- 
gregational. 2.  We  adopt,  sprinkling  as  the  mode  of  baptism,  not  be- 
cause we  recognize  it  as  the  precise  form  used  by  our  Lord,  but  be- 
cause it  obeys  his  command  completely.  3.  The  sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  we  hold  open  to  all  Christ's  disciples. 

II.  —  1.  As  to  natural  theology,  and  matters  pertaining  to  reason,  in 
common  with  all  others,  Ave  study  nature  and  man.  2.  As  to  revealed 
theology,  while  we  do  not  hold  to  the  plenary  inspiration  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, still,  the  Bible  is  our  only  and  sufficient  rule  of  faith  and  practice. 
3.  We  accept  it  with  devout  gratitude,  not  as  a  substitute  for  reason,  or 
a  fetter  upon  reason,  but  as  a  gift  from  God  in  matters  which  our  reason 
cannot  reach.  4.  We  acknowledge  no  authority  for  interpreting  the 
Word.    We  protest  against  the  authority  of  the  Latin  Churcli,  the  Greek 

3 


IV  INTRODUCTION. 

Church,  the  English  Church,  the  Scotch  Church,  the  Methodist  Church, 
the  Unitarian  Church,  and  of  every  other  church.  We  thank  each  and 
all  of  these  churches  for  aid ;  but  for  ourselves  we  must  be  left  free  to 
understand  the  Master  from  the  study  of  his  own  recorded  words.  Our 
creed  is  the  Bible. 

III.  —  1.  We  accept  at  once  every  doctrine  which  Christ  uttered.  His 
word  to  us  is  infallible  verity.  2,  Did  we  then  find  the  doctrine  of  the 
three  persons  in  One  Godhead  taught  by  him,  we  should  at  once  accept 
that.  We  do  not.  The  simple  Unity  of  God  alone,  is  taught  from  Gen- 
esis to  Revelation.  Hence  our  name,  Unitarian.  3.  Jesus  is  not  to  us  a 
mere  man.  He  is  the  Son  of  God ;  not,  however,  God  the  Son.  He  is 
our  Lord,  not  our  God.  As  Paul  says  :  "  To  us  there  is  but  one  God, 
the  Father,  and  one  Lord,  Jesus  Christ."  He  is  our  Saviour.  4.  The 
Holy  Spirit  of  God  we  believe  to  be,  not  a  separate*  person  in  the  God- 
head, but  God's  spirit.     The  Spirit  is  our  sanctifier. 

IV.  —  1.  Man  is  born,  affected  as  to  his  constitutional  peculiarities,  by 
the  good  or  evil  of  his  ancestors ;  but  as  to  character,  he  has  none  at 
birth.  An  infant,  then,  is  neither  saint  nor  sinner ;  neither  to  be  praised 
nor  blamed.  2.  Yet  all  men  sin.  However  moral,  in  the  popular  sense 
of  that  word,  a  person  may  be,  he  nevertheless  needs  regeneration.  3. 
This  new  birth  is  produced  by  the  Spirit  of  God  operating  upon  the 
heart.  Men  thereby  become  children  of  God,  and  joint  heirs  with 
Christ. 

V.  —  1 .  Immortality,  the  Providence  of  God,  Answer  to  Prayer,  For- 
giveness of  Sin,  and  the  like,  are  made  sure  to  us  through  Jesus  ;  and  2. 
through  faith  in  him  are  rendered  efficacious  to  everlasting  life.  3.  The 
unregenerate  are  not  only  living  in  darkness  and  sorrow  here,  but  can 
have  nothing  but  "  a  fearful  looking  for  of  judgment "  hereafter. 

While  we  have  no  written  or  printed  creed,  in  general  we  agree  in  the 
above  particulars.  If,  however,  any  differ,  we  aim  to  diminish  naught 
of  brotherly  kindness,  but  consider  such,  and  all,  "  to  provoke  them  to 
love  and  good  works."  Somewhat,  however,  should  be  said  with  more 
especial  reference  to  the  origin  and  purpose  of  this  course  of  Lectures. 

There  is  in  the  world  a  Christian  Church.  It  is  composed,  not  of  the- 
ologians, but  of  the  faithful.  In  this  Christian  Church  are  many  fami- 
lies, such  as  Episcopalian,  Trinitarian,  Unitarian,  and  the  like.  Each  of 
these  families  demands  that  the  whole  heart  shall  be  given  to  God,  and 
entireness  of  faith  be  had  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  And  yet  they  do  not 
agree  in  mattei's  of  doctrine,  cliurch  organization,  or  ritual.  How  shall 
true  Christian  fellowship  pervade  all  these  many  families  of  the  Church  ? 
Simply  by  letting  tlie  holy  spirit  fill  every  member  of  the  whole  body, 
making  all  one  in  Christ.     Not  at  all,  on  the  one  hand,  by  lightly  es- 


INTRODUCTION.  V 

teeming  what  we  understand  to  be  the  Master's  command ;  nor,  on  the 
other,  by  undei-estimating  in  the  least  another's  intelligence,  morality, 
faith  or  piety.  That  which  is  and  Avhich  remains  the  same  through  all 
ages,  in  all  branches  of  the  church,  in  each  pious  heart,  is  not  dogma, 
but  faith.  Out  of  that  rather  than  out  of  his  theological  head  can  one 
discern  a  brother  in  Christ.  The  Pitts-Street  Chapel  easily  finds  breth- 
ren grouped  in  other  buildings  and  under  other  names.  The  spirit  of 
Christ  is  in  them  —  "  the  tree  is  known  by  its  fruits."  It  therefore  gives 
them  fellowship.  Not  by  pulpit  exchanges  altogether ;  not  by  sitting 
with  them  at  the  Sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  altogether ;  but  by 
uniting  with  them  in  the  love  and  service  of  the  same  God  and  Lord ;  in 
receiving  from  them  knowledge  and  wisdom ;  in  being  quickened  by 
their  devotion,  and  as  far  as  it  is  able,5)y  not  only  reciprocating  the  same, 
out  uniting  with  them  in  every  good  word  and  work. 

Let  us  throw  aside  the  special  case,  and  say, —  if  Christian  brethren  of 
all  these  various  ftimilies,  we  would  unite  the  whole  household  of  faith, 
it  must  be  done  upon  the  basis  of  not  only  union  in  diversity,  but  —  com- 
munion while  we  are  separated.  Let  me  illustrate.  Our  Baptist  brother 
believes  immersion  to  be  Christ's  ordained  path  to  the  sacrament  of  the 
Lord's  Suppex'.  We  esteem  the  mode  non-essential.  Shall  he  for  loy- 
alty to  Christ  be  deemed  a  bigot  ?  Shall  he,  from  courtesy  to  man,  in- 
vite us,  being  unimmersed,  against  his  conscience  1  Never.  If  he  should, 
we  could  not  respect  him.  He  ought  not  from  courtesy  to  violate  what 
he  understands  to  be  a  clear  command  of  Heaven. 

Again,  our  Episcopal  brother  believes  in  a  supernaturally  organized 
church.  At  the  expense  of  much  time  and  labor  he  traces,  or  thinks  he 
does,  the  footprints  of  its  march  from  the  days  of  our  Lord  to  the  present 
time.  All  this  seems  to  us  fruitless  labor.  Shall  we,  therefore,  demand 
of  him,  as  an  act  of  Christian  charity  or  Christian  courtesy,  that  he 
waive  these  fancies,  cease  to  trace  the  tradition  of  the  Fathers,  throw 
aside  his  priestly  orders  and  ■  become  Congregational  ?  Not  at  all.  He 
cannot  renounce  his  Episcopacy  from  any  other  considerations  than  con- 
viction of  being  in  error,  without  forfeiting  the  favor  of  God,  angels,  and 
all  true  Christians. 

Once  more.  Our  Trinitarian  brother  believes  Jesus  to  be  Almighty 
God  the  Son,  while  we  believe  he  is  the  son  of  Almighty  God.  Shall 
we  ask  him  for  the  love  of  charity  to  give  up  his  interpretation  of  the 
Scripture,  and  agree  with  us  1  He  would  reply,  "  No,  I  cannot  do  that, 
for  Jesus  himself  says :  'All  power  is  given  unto  me,  in  heaven  and  on 
earth.'  Having  all  power,  he  is  Almighty  God.  And,  therefore,  I 
must  not  agree  Avith  you,  but  you  with  me.  Then  we  reply  just  as  hon- 
estly, just  as  piously."  No :  Jesus  is  not  God,  for  he  himself  says : 
1* 


VI  INTRODUCTION. 

"All  power  is  given  unto  mc  in  heaven  and  on  earth,"  and  therefore  he 
cannot  be  Almighty  God,  for  God  never  received  power  from  any  one. 
What  then  shall  we  do  ?  Shall  we  compromise  ?  Never.  We  are  not 
partisans,  but  God's  children  —  Christ's  disciples.  What  then?  We 
will  hold  and  utter,  each  that  which  he  receives  from  the  Master,  atod  seek 
some  other  basis  of  union. 

So  of  all  other  differences.  If  an  outward  union  be  essential,  let 
such  as  deem  baptism,  or  any  rite.  Episcopacy,  or  any  form  of  church 
organization  non-essential,  go  into  union  with  those  who  deem  them 
essential.  That  will  make  quite  a  change.  But  is  this  outward  union  at 
all  necessary  ?  No  one  temple,  at  Jerusalem  or  anywhere  else,  will  hold 
the  whole  Christian  family.  We  must  have  many  temples,  and  many 
congregations.  That  is  just  what  we  now  have.  This  being  so,  let  those 
who  most  nearly  agree  worship  together,  —  and  so  they  do.  Let  us  also 
be  kind  and  true,  seeking  for  each  other  not  the  worst  possible,  but  rather 
the  best  name,  which  generally  will  be  the  tniest ;  Trinitarian  or  Unita- 
rian, if  you  will ;  but  not  Infidel,  if  one's  whole  faith  is  in  the  Lord,  nor 
Bigot,  when  another  is  loyal  to  his  Lord's  commands,  even  though 
neither  may  be  an  infallible  interpreter.  Moreover,  let  differing  views  be 
fairly  represented.  Who  so  well  as  an  Episcopalian  can  truly  represent 
Episcopacy?  And  so  of  all  other  denominations.  Justice  then  demands 
that  each  shall  be  heard  in  its  own  defence.  What  is  still  more  important, 
let  divers  doctrines  be  held  as  the  interpretations  of  various  fallible  men, 
but  not  at  all  as  conclusive  proofs  of  religious  character.  Let  faith  in 
the  Lord,  let  piety  alone,  be  recognized  as  the  test  of  discipleship.  Chris- 
tian fellowship  would  then  follow.  No  pulpit  exchanges  need  be  made 
between  the  ministers  of  the  many  various  sects,  any  more  than  between 
teachers  of  various  schools.  Nor  every  Christian  sit  at  the  same  com-' 
munion  table,  any  more  than  all  relatives  at  one  domestic  board.  Each, 
as  in  so  many  Catholic  churches,  might  go  to  his  chosen  place,  to  be 
taught  and  to  worship,  yet  all  be  recognized,  loved  and  labored  with  as 
members  of  "  the  household  of  faith."  This  is  a  union  which  may  be. 
Is  it  not  one  which  God  demands  ?     Is  it  not  this  alone  that  man  needs  ? 

Now  to  do  somewhat  towards*forwarding  this  union  amid  diversity  — 
this  communion  while  separate  —  the  Pitts  Street  Chapel  Associates  in- 
vited gentlemen  to  preach  these  sermons. 

"O  never  more  may  differing  judgments  part 
From  kindly  sympathy  a  brother's  heart ; 
But  linked  in  one,  believing  thousands  kneel. 
And  share  with  each  the  sacred  joy  thoy  feel." 

.    S.  H,  W. 


FIRST    LECTURE. 


REV.  WILLIAM  R.  CLARK 


PASTOR   OF   THE   SECOND   METHODIST  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH, 
BROM  FIELD   STREET. 


I. 

WHY    I    Am  A    METHODIST. 


"  Prove  all  things  ;  hoid  fast  that  which  is  good." — 2  Thess.  v.  21. 

I  QUOTE  these  words  of  the  inspired  apostle,  merely 
as  a  motto,  in  proceeding  to  lay  before  you,  as  much  at 
length  as  the  limits  of  one  discom'se  will  allow,  the 
reasons  why  I  am  a  Methodist. 

It  remains  to  be  seen  whether  any  good  will  be  ac- 
complished by  this.  But  because  I  can  see  no  evil 
likely  to  result  from  it,  I  have  cheerfully  accepted  the 
polite  invitation  of  your  pastor,  which  has  brought  me 
before  you  this  evening. 

And  now  I  have  to  state,  first,  as  a  reason  why  I  be- 
came a  Methodist,  that  I  was  identified  with  this  de- 
nomination by  early  associations,  and  was  converted 
through  its  instrumentality. 

But  though  this  reason  determined  my  denomina- 
tional connection  at  the  age  of  fifteen  years,  my  pref- 
erence now  for  the  Methodist  church  is  mainly  based 
upon  reasons  which  have  since  appeared  upon  maturer 
thought  and  protracted  observation. 


10  PITTS-STREET    CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  these  reasons  ^do  not  em- 
brace the  notion  that  the  church  of  my  choice  is  exempt 
from  imperfections.  I  look  not  for  a  people  who  are 
infallible  either  in  doctrines,  economy,  or  life. 

But,  with  all  her  imperfections,  the  Methodist  church 
has,  what  to  my  mind  are  distinguishing  excellences,  and 
which  are  the  ground  of  my  ecclesiastical  preference. 
Indeed,  the  fact  that  I  am  a  Methodist,  implies  that 
to  my  own  mind  Methodism  compares  favorably,  and 
even  advantageously,  with  other  systems  of  Christian 
doctrine  and  enterprise.  If,  however,  in  presenting  sta- 
tistics, facts,  and  principles,  I  may  seem  to  be  boasting 
or  drawing  invidious  comparisons,  I  shall  escape  the 
imputation  of  a  boastful  or  invidious  spirit,  inasmuch 
as  your  pastor  covets  to  be  the  scape-goat  for  all  my 
sins  in  this  regard. 

I  will  not  detain  you  with  any  protestations  of  cath- 
olicity, preferring  you  should  draw  your  own  inferences 
respecting  this,  from  the  tenor  of  my  remarks,  and  from 
what  you  may  chance  to  know  of  the  branch  of  the 
church  catholic  which  I  represent. 

I  now  address  myself  to  your  candor,  while  I  attempt 
to  present,  as  comprehensively  as  I  may  be  able,  the 
peculiarities  of  Methodism,  pertaining  to  her  doctrines 
and  methods  of  progress,  which  constitute  the  ground 
of  my  denominational  preference. 

And  first,  as  regards  her  doctrines,  there  is  no  one 
of  them  which  is  not  held  in  a  modified  form  by  some 


MR.    CLARK'S   LECTURE.  11 

one  of  the  other  religious  bodies.     Methodism  did  not 
originate  in  a  zeal  for  peculiarities. 

It  was  christened  by  its  enemies  in  a  baptism  of 
persecution,  which  partook  much  less  of  the  nature  of 
sprinkling  than  of  immersion.  On  account  of  the  rig- 
idity with  which  its  people  adhered  to  method  in  the 
observance  of  religious  duties,  they  were  first  derisively 
called  Methodists.  I  name  this  historical  fact  just  to 
say,  that  Methodism  has  projected  no  new  system  of 
theology ;  as  a  sect,  it  is  eclectic.  And  yet  it  has  a 
peculiarity  in  regard  to  its  doctrines,  which  I  will  pre- 
sent, after  stating  succinctly  what  those  doctrines  are. 

Methodists  believe  in  the  existence  of  one  God,  and 
that  he  is  clearly  revealed  to  us  in  the  Bible  under  a 
three-fold  distinction  or  personality  —  the  Father,  the 
Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost.  They  hold  that  man's  na- 
ture is  originally  depraved,  and  in  need  of  a  supernat- 
ural re-creation  or  regeneration,  and  that  this  work  is 
wrought  by  the  direct  agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the 
heart  of  every  on6  who  properly  trusts  in  Christ  as  a 
personal  Savior,  through  whose  vicarious  death  alone 
remission  of  sin  is  granted. 

They  maintain  that  Christ  has  made  a  full  atone- 
ment for  the  sins  of  all  mankind,  by  virtue  of  which 
all  who  die  prior  to  the  period  of  accountability  are 
saved  ;  and  that  all  others  are  in  a  salvable  state.  They 
insist  that  every  accountable  descendant  of  Adam  is 
made  absolutely  free  in  the  exercise  of  his  moral  choice^ 


12  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

that  God  holds  him  strictly  responsible  for  that  choice, 
and  that  subsequent  to  a  general  resurrection  he  will 
bring  him  to  an  account  at  a  day  of  general  judg- 
ment ;  that  those  who  are  then  found  wicked  will  go 
away  into  everlasting  punishment,  and  the  righteous 
—  those  and  those  only  who  have  accepted  the  offers 
of  salvation  and  endured  to  the  end  —  will  go  into  life" 
eternal.* 

They  believe  that  the  provisions  of  the  gospel  are 
adequate  to  the  removal  of  all  depravity  from  man's 
nature,  and  to  keeping  the  nature  free  from  all  sin  — 
"  unspotted  from  the  world  "  —  and  that  it  is  his  priv- 
ilege to  know  beyond  a  doubt  by  the  direct  witness  of 
the  Spirit,  that  he  is  a  child  of  God.  They  hold  that 
there  are  two  sacraments,  and  two  only,  instituted  by 
divine  authority  —  the  Lord's  Supper,  which  is  a  re- 
membrancer of  Christ,  and  is  emblematical  of  his  vica- 
rious death  —  and  Baptism,  which  is  the  ordinance  of 
initiation  into  the  visible  church,  and  consists  in  the 
application  of  water  to  the  person  in  any  manner  most 
convenient,  if^  a  duly  authorized  administrator,  in  the 
name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  This  sacrament  has  the  nature  and  force  of  a 
covenant  on  the  part  of  the  candidate  himself,  if  he 
be  of  responsible  years,  or  on  the  part  of  his  sponsor 
it  he  be  an  infant.  It  being  a  sign  and  seal  of  an  in- 
ward work  of  grace,  infants  —  pronounced  by  Christ 
as   fit  subjects  for  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  —  are  al 


MR.    CLARK'S    LECTURE.  13 

entitled  to  it,  as  much  as  maturer  Christians  and  for 
the  same  reason;  moral  fitness,  and  a  proper  guarantee- 
for  the  religious  training  of  those  of  an  irresponsible 
age,  being  the  sole  conditions  upon  which,  from  its 
nature,  it  should  be  administered.  Both  these  sacra- 
ments symbolize,  but  in  no  sense  whatever  do  they 
convey,  divine  grace. 

I  have  now  set  forth  the  doctrinal  basis  of  Metho- 
dism. The  moral  structure  which  it  rears  upon  that 
basis  is  its  distinctive  peculiarity. 

In  other  words,  I  believe,  and  shall  now  attempt  to 
show,  that  the  church  of  my  choice,  by  her  peculiar 
view  of  these  doctrines,  and  her  manner  of  treating 
them,  has  developed  a  higher  religious  life,  and  a  more 
aggressive  spirit,  then  her  sister  denominations  have 
done,  or  could  do,  by  their  peculiar  views  and  treat- 
ment of  them.  Though  in  consequence  of  their  hav- 
ing of  late  years  approximated  the  views  and  spirit  of 
Methodism,  many  of  its  peculiarities  are  now  less 
marked  than  formerly. 

In  illustration  of  what  I  claim  for  the  life  and  spirit 
of  Methodism,  I  shall  first  adduce  the  religious  experi- 
ence of  its  founder,  John  Wesley.  I  do  so,  because 
that  experience  has  given  birth  and  character  to  Meth- 
odism the  world  over. 

John  Wesley  was  born  in  the  year  1703,  in  Epworth, 
England,  of  which  his  father  was  rector.  From  child- 
hood the  religious  element  was  prominent  in  his  na- 


14  PITTS-STREET    CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

ture,  and,  under  the  culture  of  intelligent  and  devout 
parents,  he  early  developed  a  marked  religious  char- 
acter. While  tutor  in  the  allege  at  Oxford,  he  formed 
a  religious  society,  consisting  of  himself,  his  brother 
Charles,  and  a  few  others,  for  the  purpose  of  moral  and 
spiritual  improvement. 

They  adopted  rigid  rules  for  the  government  of  their 
lives,  visited  and  relieved  the  poor  and  sick,  circulated 
the  Scriptures,  denied  themselves  every  sinful  amuse- 
ment, fasted  and  prayed  much,  attended  the  means  of 
grace  regularly,  and  "  sought  to  reach  the  highest  pos- 
sible spiritual  attainments." 

This  strict  course,  so  unusual  in  college  life,  brought 
upon  them  "  scorn,  rebuke,  and  insult."  They  were 
stigmatized  as  "  Supererogation  Men,"  a  "  Reforming 
Club,"  a  "  Godly  Club,"  a  "  Holy  Club,"  "  Enthusi- 
asts," "  Methodists,"  and  so  on. 

"  The  only  effect  of  this  was  to  stimulate  their  zeal, 
and  quicken  their  devotion."  At  the  age  of  thirty-two 
years,  having  been  previously  ordained  as  a  minister 
in  the  established  church,  Mr.  Wesley  was  appointed 
a  missionary  to  Georgia,  being  regarded  as  peculiarly 
qualified  for  this  service,  by  his  zeal,  piety,  and  habits 
of  self-denial. 

On  his  passage  out,  and  while  in  Georgia,  he  had 
frequent  conversations  with  the  Moravian  brethren, 
from  whom  "  he  caught  the  first  glimpses  of  a  relig- 
ious experience,  which  keeps  the  mind  in  peace  in  all 


MR.  Clark's  lecture.  15 

circumstances,  and  vanquishes  the  fear  of  death."  On 
his  return  to  England  he  declared  himself  convinced  of 
the  unsoundness  of  his  religious  experience.  "  I  went  to 
America,"  said  he,  "to  convert  the  Indians ;  but  O,  who 
shall  convert  me !  Who  is  he  that  will  deliver  me  from 
this  evil  heart  of  unbelief?  I  have  a  fair  summer  re- 
ligion ;  I  can  talk  well,  nay,  and  believe  myself,  while 
no  danger  is  present ;  but  let  death  look  me  in  the  face, 
and  my  spirit  is  troubled,  nor  can  I  say  '  to  die  is  gain. 
I  left  my  native  country  to  teach  the  Georgia  Indians 
the  nature  of  Christianity ;  but  what  have  I  learned 
myself  in  the  meantime  ?  Why  (what  I  least  of  all 
suspected),  that  I  who  went  to  America  to  convert  oth- 
ers, was  never  converted  myself !  This  have  I  learned 
in  the  ends  of  the  earth  :  that  I  am  fallen  short  of  the 
glory  of  God  ;  that  my  whole  heart  is  altogether  cor- 
rupt and  abominable,  and,  consequently,  my  whole  life ; 
—  (seeing  it  cannot  be  that  an  evil  tree  should  bring 
forth  good  fruit)  —  that  my  own  works,  my  own  suffer- 
ings, my  own  righteousness,  are  so  far  from  reconciling 
me  to  an  offended  God,  so  far  from  making  any  atone- 
ment for  the  least  of  these  sins,  that  the  most  specious 
of  them  need  an  atonement  themselves,  or  they  cannot 
abide  his  righteous  judgment.  I  have  no  hope  but  that 
of  being  justified  freely  through  the  redemption  that  is 

in  Jesus The  faith  I  want  is  a  sure  trust  and 

confidence  in  God,  that  through  the  merits  of  Christ 
my  sins  are  forgiven I  want  that  faith  which 


16  PITTS-STREET    CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

none  has  without  knowing  he  kath,  (though  many 
imagine  they  have  it  who  have  it  not,)  for  whosoever 
hath  it  is  freed  from  sin  ;  the  whole  "  body  of  sin  is 
destroyed  "  in  him  ;  he  is  freed  from  fear,  having  peace 
with  God  through  Christ,  and  rejoicing  in  hope  of  the 
glory  of  God.  And  he  is  freed  from  doubt,  having  the 
love  of  God  shed  abroad  in  the  heart  by  the  Holy 
Ghost  which  is  given  unto  him  ;  which  Spirit  beareth 
witness  with  his  spirit  that  he  is  a  child  of  God." 

Thus  quickened  and  feeling  after  God,  he  attended 
one  evening  a  meeting  where  a  person  was  reading 
Luther's  preface  to  the  Epistle  to  the  Komans.  "  About 
a  quarter  before  nine,"  says  he,  "  while  he  was  describ- 
ing the  change  which  God  works  in  the  heart  through 
faith  in  Christ,  I  felt  my  heart  strangely  warmed.  I 
felt  I  did  trust  in  Christ,  in  Christ  alone,  for  salvation, 
and  an  assurance  was  given  me  that  he  had  taken 
away  my  sins  —  even  mine  —  and  saved  me  from  the 
law  of  sin  and  death.  I  began  to  pray  with  all  my 
might  for  those  who  had  in  a  more  especial  manner 
despitefully  used  me  and  persecuted  me.  I  then  testi- 
fied openly  to  all  there,  what  I  now  first  felt  in  my 
heart." 

This  experience,  matured  and  expanded  by  incessant 
labor  in  the  cause  of  his  Master,  protracted  to  the  age 
of  eighty-eight  years,  threw  a  moral  halo  around  his 
subsequent  life,  and  crowned  his  dying  moments  with 
unutterable  bliss. 


MR.    CLARK'S   LECTURE.  17 

Emancipated  from  the  thraldom  of  a  blind  philoso- 
phy, and  stirred  by  the  convictions-  and  impulses  of  a 
new  life,  Mr.  Wesley  now  began  to  proclaim  a  free 
and  full  salvation,  as  a  personal  experience. 

Thousands  were  converted  through  his  instrumental- 
ity. Hundreds  of  preachers  were  raised  up,  to  enter 
the  field  with  him  ;  a  Conference  of  ministers  was 
formed,  and  the   Methodist   Church  was   established. 

Yet  this  was  the  result  of  great  toils  and  sacrifices. 
Mr.  Wesley  himself  preached  forty  thousand  sermons, 
travelled  two  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  miles,  and 
gave  to  charitable  and  religious  purposes  more  than 
$150,000  as  the  proceeds  of  his  publications,  and  left 
to  the  church  an  imperishable  treasure  in  his  published 
works. 

To  every  intelligent  and  candid  observer  it  must,  I 
think,  be  apparent,  that  Methodism  came  into  being 
by  the  birth-throes  of  an  uncommon  spiritual  life. 

To  make  this  fact  still  more  obvious  I  next  invite 
your  attention  to  the  religious  condition  of  England 
and  America  when  Methodism  arose. 

Any  one  at  all  familiar  with  history,  knows  that 
an  appalling  ignorance  of  vital  godliness  everywhere 
prevailed.     Deep  shadows  hung  over  the  land. 

Both  the  dissenting  clergy,  and  those  of  the  Estab- 
lished Church,  were  mostly  unconverted  men,  and 
many  of  them  immoral.  Watts,  Doddridge,  and  a 
few  others  were  exceptions ;  but  their  light,  steady  and 

2*  « 


18'  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES 

serene  as  it  was,  but   feebly  struggled  with  the   all 
embracing  darkness. 

Let  those  outside  the  pale  of  Methodism,  furnish 
you  with  information  on  that  point. 

Bishop  Butler,  —  author  of  the  celebrated  Analogy, 
—  thus  mourns  over  the  religious  aspects  of  his 
country  in  a  charge  delivered  to  the  clergy  in  the  year 
1751.  "  It  is  impossible  for  me,  my  brethren,  upon  our 
first  meeting  of  this  kind,  to  forbear  lamenting  with 
you  the  general  decay  of  religion  in  this  nation,  which 
is  now  observed  by  every  one,  and  has  been  for  some 
"time  the  complaint  of  all  serious  persons.  The  influ- 
ence of  it  is  wearing  out  of  the  minds  of  men,  even 
of  those  who  do  not  pretend  to  enter  into  speculations 

on  the  subject As  different  ages  have  been 

distinguished  by  different  sorts  of  particular  errors  and 
vices,  the  deplorable  distinction  of  ours  is  an  avowed 
scorn  of  religion  in  some,  and  a  growing  disregard  for 
it  in  the  generality  of  cases." 

In  the  advertisement  to  his  Analogy  he  further  says : 
"  It  has  come,  I  know  not  how,  to  be  taken  for  granted 
by  many  persons,  that  Christianity  is  not  so  much  a 
subject  of  inquiry,  but  that  it  is  now  at  length  dis- 
covered to  be  fictitious,  and,  accordingly,  they  treat  it 
as  if,  in  the  present  age,  this  were  an  agreed  point 
among  all  people  of  discernment,  and  nothing  re- 
mained but  to  set  it  up  as  a  principal  subject  of  mirth 
and  ridicule,  as  it  were,  by  way  of  reprisals  for  its 


MR.    CLARK  S   LECTURE.  19 

having  so  long  interrupted  the  pleasures  of  the  world." 

Archbishop  Seeker  asserts,  "  In  this  we  cannot  be 
mistaken,  that  an  open  and  professed  disregard  for 
religion  is  become,  through  a  variety  of  unhappy- 
causes,  the  distinguishing  character  of  the  present 
age." 

Dr.  John  Guise  declares,  "  The  greatest  number  of 
preachers  and  hearers  seem  contented  to  lay  Him 
(Christ)  aside All  that  is  restrictively  Chris- 
tian, or  that  is  peculiar  to  Christ,  is  waved,  and  ban- 
ished, and  despised." 

Dr.  Isaac  Watts  appeals  to  »'  Every  one  to  use  all 
just  and  proper  efforts  for  the  recovery  of  dying'  reli- 
gion in  the  worlciy 

A  poet  contemporary  with  Addison,  thus  compli- 
ments his  contributions  to  the  Spectator: 

"  When  panting  virtue  her  last  effort  made, 
You  brought  your  Clio  to  the  virgin's  aid." 

In  the  eye  of  her  poets  as  well  as  her  divines,  the 
virtue  of  England  lay  gasping  for  breath.  It  requires 
no  vivid  imagination  to  fill  up  the  picture  which  these 
dark  outlines  describe. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  condition  of  America,  when 
Methodism  first  threw  its  influence  upon  our  shores, 
through  the  piety  and  eloquence  of  Whitefield. 

From  the  history  of  the  Great  Awakening,  by  Mr. 
Tracy,  you  may  learn  that  "  The  doctrine  of  a  '  new 


20  PITTS-STEEET    CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

birth,'  as  an  ascertainable  change,  was  not  generally- 
prevalent  in  any  comrfiunion  when  the  revival  com 
menced." 

"  The  difference  between  the  church  and  the  world," 
says  that  author,  "was  fast  vanishing  away.  Church 
discipline  was  neglected,  and  a  growing  laxness  of 
morals  was  invading  the  churches Occa- 
sional revivals  of  religion  had  interrupted  this  down- 
ward progress,  and  the  preaching  of  sound  doctrine 
had  retarded  it  in  many  places,  especially  in  North- 
ampton ;  but  even  there  it  had  gone  on,  and  the  hold 
of  truth  on  the  consciences  of  men  was  sadly  dimin- 
ished." 

Rev.  Samuel  Davies,  of  Virginia,  writes  in  the  year 
1751 :  "  Religion  has  been,  and  in  most  parts  of  the 

Colony  still  is  in  a  very  low  state Family 

religion  is  a  rarity Vices  of  various  kinds 

are  triumphant,  and  even  a  form  of  godliness  is  not 
common." 

Throughout  the  land  the  custom  prevailed  of  ad- 
mitting persons  to  the  full  communion  of  the  churches 
who  gave  no  evidence  of  regeneration,  and  the  doc- 
trine of  the  new  birth  ceased  to  be  regarded  in  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  ordinances.  It  was  generally  held 
that  the  ministrations  of  unconverted  men,  if  "  neither 
heretical  in  doctrine,  nor  scandalous  for  immorality, 
were  valid  and  useful." 

Whitefield  published,  as  his  belief,  that  the  gener- 


MR.    CLARES    LECTURE.  21 

ality  of  preachers  "  talked  of  an  unknown  and  unfelt 
Christ ; "  and  that  "  the  reason  why  the  churches 
were  so  dead,  was  because  they  had  dead  men  to 
preach  to  them." 

"  When  the  enemy "  had  thus  "  come  in  like  a 
flood,  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  lifted  up  a  standard 
against  him,"  by  the  labors  of  Edwards,  Tennent, 
Whitefield  and  others.  The  remnant  of  the  faithful 
took  courage  and  "  waxed  valiant  for  the  truth." 
The  churches  were  aroused,  and  powerful  awak- 
enings followed. 

But  this  great  revival  was  soon  succeeded  by  a 
general  declension. 

Bitter  controversies  arose  respecting  it ;  the  Courts 
interfered  and  imposed  restraints  upon  its  instrumen- 
talities ;  large  numbers  of  the  most  influential  clergy- 
men arrayed  themselves  ostensibly  against  its  extrava- 
gances, but  really  against  the  revival  itself,  while  the 
ravings  of  Davenport  and  others  turned  it  into  deep 
reproach. 

And  when  Whitefield  arrived  here,  on  his  second 
visit,  various  Conventions  and  Associations,  with  the 
Faculties  of  Harvard  and  Yale,  published  "  Testi- 
monies "  and  "  Declarations  "  against  him. 

A  terrible  revulsion  ensued.  Edwards  was  dis- 
missed from  his  charge  at  Northampton,  and  a  settled 
gloom  again  beclouded  the  spiritual  prospects  of  New 
England. 


^2  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

In  Boston  itself,  the  number  of  churches  was  actu- 
ally less  in  1785  than  a  half  century  before.*  This  is 
a  sad  record  for  the  descendants  of  the  Puritans. 

I  name  these  historical  facts,  patent  to  every  one, 
not  to  produce  the  impression  that  there  was  no  piety 
in  the  clergy  or  laity  of  the  periods  referred  to ;  but  to 
show  that  an  organized  evangelism — a  church,  revival 
in  its  spirit,  and  missionary  in  its  economy,  was  the 
desideratum  of  the  religious  interests  of  England  and 
America  at  the  time  Methodism  arose.  And  such  I 
claim  the  Methodist  church  to  be ;  and  such  it  is  con- 
ceded to  be  by  intelligent  and  candid  observers  out- 
side of  its  pale. 

Said  Dr.  Morrison :  "  The  Church  of  England  re- 
ceived a  mighty  and  hallowed  impulse  from  the  or- 
ganization of  Methodism."  "Methodism  did  much," 
continues  he,  "to  bring  on  the  missionary  crisis  of 
the  church ;  it  was  its  glory  that  it  seized  with  a  giant 
grasp  this  great  cardinal  principle  of  the  Apostolic 
ministry." 

"  Multitudes  of  genuine  Christians,"  says  Richard 
Cecil,  "  could  attest,  that,  under  whatever  denomina- 
tion they  now  proceed,  they  owe  their  first  religious 
impressions  to  the  labors  of  the  Methodists." 

Dr.  Baird,  who  has  long  been  carefully  observing 
the  religious  systems  of  this  country,  thus  speaks  in 

*  "  Mcmonals  of  Methodism." 


MR.   CLARK'S   LECTURE.  23 

his  "  Religion  in  America."  "  No  American  Chris- 
tian, who  takes  a  comprehensive  view  of  the  progress 
of  religion  in  his  country, will  fail  to  recog- 
nize in  the  Methodist  economy,  as  well  as  in  the  zeal, 
devoted  piety  and  efficiency  of  its  ministry,  one  of  the 
most  powerful  elements  in  the  religious  prosperity  of 
the  United  States,  as  well  as  one  of  the  firmest  pillars 
of  their  civil  and  religious  institutions." 

Said  Rev.  Dr.  Tyng,  in  an  address  before  the  Wes- 
leyan  Missionary  Society  in  London,  "J  come  from  a 
land  where  we  might  as  well  forget  the  proud  oaks 
that  tower  in  our  forests,  the  glorious  capitol  we  have 
erected  in  the  centre  of  our  hills,  or  the  principles  of 
truth  and  liberty  we  are  endeavoring  to  disseminate, 
as  to  forget  the  influence  of  Wesleyan  Methodism, 
and  the  benefits  we  have  received  thereby." 

Methodism  was  instrumental  in  the  conversion  of 
more  souls  in  her  first  century,  than  was  the  Apostolic 
church  in  its  first  century.  At  the  close  of  the  first 
century  of  the  Christian  era  there  were  five  hundred 
thousand  Christians.  At  the  Centennial  Anniversary 
of  Methodism  in  1839,  the  number  of  her  communi- 
cants was  one  million  four  hundred  and  twenty- 
three  thousand. 

The  Methodist  Church  in  this  country  was  organized 
in  the  year  1784 ;  it  now  numbers  more  than  one  mil- 
lion three  hundred  thousand  members  in  full  commun- 
ion.    Nearly  all  these  were  gathered  from  without  the 


24  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

pale  of  the  Christian  Church.  Occasionally,  persons 
converted  through  the  instrumentality  of  other  denom- 
inations have  united  with  us.  But  while  this  should 
be  admitted,  it  is  proverbial  that  thousands  led  to 
Christ  through  Methodist  instrumentalities,  have  gone 
to  swell  the  ranks  of  other  churches. 

According  to  the  last  United  States  census  the  num- 
ber of  church  edifices  belonging  to  the  Methodist  de- 
nomination was  twelve  thousand  four  hundred  and  six- 
ty-seven ;  aggregate  accommodations,  four  million  two 
hundred  and  nine  thousand,  three  hundred  and  thirty- 
three.  The  number  belonging  to  the  Baptists,  eight 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  ninety-one ;  aggregate 
accommodations,  three  million  one  hundred  and  thirty 
thousand,  eight  hundred  and  seventy-eight.  The  num- 
ber belonging  to  the  Presbyterians,  four  thousand  five 
hundred  and  eighty-four ;  aggregate  accommodations, 
two  million  forty  thousand  three  hundred  and  sixteen 
The  number  belonging  to  the  Congregationalists,  one 
thousand  six  hundred  and  seventy-four ;  aggregate  ac 
commodations,  seven  hundred  and  ninety-five  thou 
sand  one  hundred  and  seventy-seven.  The  number 
belonging  to  the  Episcopalians,  one  thousand  four 
hundred  and  twenty-two  ;  aggregate  accommodations, 
six  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  two  hundred 
and  thirteen.  The  number  belonging  to  the  Univer- 
salists,  four  hundred  and  ninety-four ;  aggregate  ac- 
commodations, two  jiundred  and  five  thousand  four 


MR.    CLARK'S   LECTURE.  25 

hundred  and  sixty-two.  The  number  belonging  to  the 
Unitarians,  two  hundred  and  forty-three ;  aggregate 
accommodations,  one  hundred  and  thirty-seven  thous- 
and, three  hundred  and  sixty-seven. 

According  to  the  latest  reports  the  number  of  Bap- 
tist communicants  is  eight  hundred  and  ninety-seven 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighteen  ;  of  Presbyteri- 
ans, Old  and  New  School,  three  hundred  and  eighty- 
three  thousand  nine  hundred  and  forty ;  of  Congre- 
gationalists,  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand; 
of  Episcopalians,  one  hundred  and  sixteen  thousand 
two  hundred  ninety-five  ;  of  Methodists,  one  million 
three  hundred  and  forty-two  thousand  and  twenty-five. 

We  by  no  means  conclude  by  this  partial  view  that 
Methodism  in  every  respect  overshadows  all  her  sister 
denominations.  She  has  not  been  long  enough  in  the 
field  to  equal  some  of  the  older  ones  in  educational 
institutions,  denominational  literature,  and  foreign 
missionary  operations.  In  those  respects  in  which  our 
brethren  of  other  names  are  in  advance  of  us,  we  re- 
joice with  them,  and  bid  them  God-speed.  We  hope 
a  Christian  emulation  will  ever  stimulate  their  utmost 
endeavors  to  keep  in  advance  of  us.  But  it  will  be 
admitted  by  all  who  have  a  reputation  for  candor,  that 
while  the  numerical  progress  of  Methodism  is  without 
a  parallel,  she  has  done  her  work  well. 

It  becomes  now  an.  interesting  inquiry,  by  what 
means  under  God  has  the  Methodist  Church  of  this 


26  PITTS-STREET    CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

country,  now  only  in  the  seventy -fifth  year  of  her  or- 
ganization, taken  her  place  in  the  front  rank  among 
the  churches  of  the  land  in  the  immediate  work  of 
evangelization  ?  There  are  efficient  means  which  she 
has  employed  in  common  with  other  denominations, 
such  as  the  religious  press,  the  Sunday  School,  the 
tract  Society,  and  literary  and  theological  institutions. 
But  there  are  also  means  which  Methodism  has  em- 
ployed quite  peculiar  to  herself.  These  are  an  ear- 
nest style  of  preaching  certain  great  doctrinal  truths, 
which  I  will  soon  name  ;  the  greatest  care  to  insure  an 
experimental  and  practical  ministry ;  special  appliances 
for  securing  active  and^growing  piety  among  the  laity ; 
and  the  itinerancy. 

1.  I  am  nov\^  to  state,  first,  the  doctrinal  truths  which 
Methodism  has  made  prominent  as  a  means  for  the 
awakening  and  conversion  of  men. 

In  the  first  place  she  has  proclaimed,  steadily  and 
unqualifiedly  through  the  pulpit  and  press,  all  men  to 
be  in  a  salvable  state  ;  that  all  infants  dying  prior  to 
accountable  years  are  saved ;  that  all  who  become  ac- 
countable may  be  saved,  if  they  will  comply  with  the 
prescribed  conditions,  and  that  these  conditions  so  re- 
spect all  the  circumstances  of  each  individual  man, 
that  all,  whether  in  Christendom  or  in  heathendom,  are 
by  the  grace  of  God  absolutely  free  to  comply  with 
them.     In  other  words,  Methodism  understands  Chris- 


27 

tianity  to  teach  that  the  provisions  of  salvation  are 
perfect  and  universal  —  that  by  means  of  them  all 
mankind  are  unconditionally  saved  to  a  perfectly  fair 
probation  ;  —  in  a  word,  that  universalism  is  stamped 
upon  every  feature  of  the  Christian  economy,  and  that 
the  only  reason  why  all  will  not  be  saved  eternally  is, 
that  some,  instead  of  faithfully  keeping  the  trusts  com- 
mitted to  them,  persistently  prostitute  their  moral  free- 
dom. Our  ministry  have  everywhere  boldly  held  up 
this  truth  in  confutation  of  the  prevalent  notions  which 
restrict  either  the  atonement  itself,  or  any  of  the  agen- 
cies for  carrying  out  its  provisions  giving  one  individ- 
ual, or  one  portion  of  the  human  family,  an  advantage 
over  another.     Their  watchword  has  ever  been  — 

*'  Lord,  I  believe  were  sinners  more 
Than  sands  upon  the  ocean  shore, 
Thou  hast  for  all  a  ransom  paid, 
For  all  a  full  atonement  made." 

They  have  declared  the  gates  of  Paradise  to  be  open 
wide  for  all  men,  and  by  the  bliss  of  heaven  and  pains 
of  hell  have  urged  them  to  enter.* 

*  The  -writer  has  no  hesitation  in  declaring  it  as  his  individual  opinion, 
that  the  conditions  of  human  probation  are  such  as  to  aiFord  all  the  hu- 
man race  an  absolutely  equal  opportunity  to  be  saved.  In  other  words, 
that  all  are  equally  able  to  keep  the  individual  trusts  committed  to  them, 
and  that  no  one  who  on  the  great  day  of  awards  shall  be  found  among 
the  condemned,  will  be  able  to  say,  that  had  the  circumstances  beyond  his 
control  been  like  those  of  any  one  of  the  saved,  he,  too,  would  have  been 


28  PITTS-STEEET   CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

They  have  cogently  proved  and  illustrated  by  his- 
toric fact,  the  depravity  of  man,  totally  disenabling 
him  for  gaining  a  likeness  to  God,  and  fitness  for 
heaven,  by  any  inherent  strength  or  virtue  of  his  own. 
They  have  taught  that  the  vitalizing  and  re-creating 
energies  of  the  Holy  Spirit  are  the  sole  instrumentality 
by  which  man's  nature  is  renewed  in  righteousness  ; 
that  man  can  no  more  secure  a  right  state  of  heart  by 
any  process  of  moral  culture,  than  he  can  lift  himself 
to  the  clouds.  This  truth,  so  unwelcome  to  our  pride, 
we  have  found  after  all  to  appeal  to  the  deepest  con- 
sciousness of  the  soul. 

And  we  as  a  people  are  deeply  convinced,  that  any 
system  of  faith,  however  philosophical  in  appearance 
or  eloquent  in  its  presentation,  which  denies  or  over- 
looks the  deep,  inherent  corruption  of  man,  and  his 
need  of  the  renewing  grace  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  will 
stir  but  little  the  great  heart  of  humanity. 

Your  own  beloved  Channing  saw  and  felt  this,  and 
in  a  letter  to  Blanco  White,  dated  Sept.  18,  1839,  says 
with  characteristic  candor,  "  I  would  that  I  could  look 
to  Unitarianism  with  more  hope.  But  this  system  was 
at  its  recent  revival,  a  protest  of  the  understanding 
against  absurd  dogmas,  rather  than  the  work  of  deep 

numbered  with  tliem.  He  believes  the  Arminian  view  of  Christian  doc- 
trine to  involve  this,  though  it  would  be  assuming  too  much  for  the  faith 
of  others,  to  affirm  that  all  the  Methodists  concur  in  this  conclusion  witli- 
out  some  qualification. 


MR.    CLARK'S   LECTURE.  29 

religions  principle,  and  was  early  paralyzed  by  a  mix- 
ture of  material  philosophy,  and  fell  too  much  into  the 
hands  of  scholars  and  political  reformers  ;  and  the  con- 
sequence is  a  want  of  vitality  and  force,  which  gives 
us  little  hope  of  accomplishing  much  under  its  present 
auspices  or  in  its  present  form."  * 

I  do  not,  of  course,  infer  from  these  words  that  their 
author  entertained  the  same  views  of  the  innate  help- 
lessness of  the  race  which  I  advocate  ;  but  I  do  infer, 
•that  after  a  long  working  of  the  Socinian  system  as 
then  sustained,  with  commanding  talents  and  costly 
culture,  and  with  a  self-sacrificing  devotion  excelled  by 
no  man  in  New  England,  he  did  find  it  was  not  suf- 
ficiently radical  to  meet  the  moral  emergency  of  human 
society.     And  in  this  conclusion  we  most  fully  concur. 

Methodism  further  insists  on  the  absolute  freedom 
of  man,  through  a  universal  bestowment  of  divine 
grace,  to  do  what  God  requires  him  to  do,  and  for  the 
not  doing  of  which.  He  will  condemn  him.  In  other 
words,  he  is  free  so  to  accept  the  provisions  of  grace 
as  to  form  thereby  his  own  moral  character  —  the 
character  for  which   God  holds  him  responsible. 

This  truth  Methodism  has  persistently  affirmed,  in 
opposition  to  the  paralyzing  dogma  of  decreed  char- 
acter and  unconditional  election  and  reprobation. 
From  this  premise  —  the  absolute  moral  freedom  of 

*Life  of  J.  Blanco  White,  vol.  iii. 
3* 


30  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

man  —  the  Methodist  ministry  has  argued  with  a 
crushing  logic,  and  startling  emphasis,  the  reasonable- 
ness, necessity,  and  certainty  of  a  future  retribution. 

It  is  true  the  doctrines  ol  repentance  and  future 
judgment  were  previously  promulgated ;  but,  impreg- 
nated as  they  were  with  the  'stifling  notions  of  a  de- 
creed fatality,  they  were  comparatively  inoperative. 
For  however  specious  the  logic  which  professes  to 
connect  moral  responsibility  with  decreed  character, 
the  popular  mind,  has  always  seen  an  impassable  gulf  " 
between  them.  It  is  only  when  you  assure  man  that 
he  is  absolutely  free,  that  you  can  properly  make  him 
feel  his  criminality,  and  fear  a  retribution. 

The  Methodist  Church  has,  in  common  with  most 
other  branches  of  the  church,  set  forth  the  atonement 
of  Christ  as  the  only  ground  of  the  sinner's  pardon  ; 
but  with  this  peculiarity.  It  has  said  to  the  sinner, 
"  You  are  to  be  pardoned  solely  through  the  merit  of 
Christ ;  if  so,  not  in  any  sense  through  your  own 
merit ;  and  therefore  your  demerit,  whatever  its  extent, 
can  be  no  obstacle  to  your  immediate  pardon.  Be- 
cause you  are  free  it  is  your  duty  to  repent  and  trust 
Christ  now ;  and  because  you  are  to  be  pardoned 
through  the  merit  of  Christ,  and  not  through  your  own 
merit,  it  is  your  privilege  to  be  pardoned  now,  since 
pardon  is  promised  on  the  condition  of  faith."  In  this 
way  we  have  always  aimed  at  the  immediate  conver- 
sion of  men  ;  as  did   Peter,  on  the  day  of  Pentecost. 


MR.    CLARK'S   LECTURE.  •  31 

when  three  thousand  were  converted  and  added  to  the 
Church  in  one  day  under  his  preaching. 

We  have  invited  sinners  to  our  altars,  and  directing 
them  to  their  atoning  Savior,  bid  them  look  and  live, 
as  the  Israelites  looked  to  the  brazen  Serpent  and  were 
healed.  Thousands  on  thousands  have  in  this  way 
beeg  renewed  in  a  moment  —  as  in  the  twinkling 
of  an  eye.  If  any  one  pronounces  this  fanaticism,  we 
only  refer  him  to  its  results  in  the  character  and  prog- 
ress of  the  Methodist  Church.  If  he  can  believe  that 
a  religious  life,  essentially  fanatical,  could  achieve  what 
the  religious  life  of  this  body  has  achieved,  he  can  be- 
lieve that  an  enemy  on  the  battle-field  could  be  routed, 
or  a  Malakoff  carried,  by  firing  blank  cartridges. 

It  is  readily  conceded  that  there  have  been  extrava- 
gances connected  with  Methodist  revivals,  as  there 
have  always  been  with  all  powerful  moral  movements; 
but  these  have  only  been  the  mists  drawn  up  by  the 
bright  sun  above,  from  the  broad,  deep  current  of 
Christian  progress,  which  has  rolled  steadily  onward. 

The  foregoing  view  of  conversion,  I  am  aware,  is 
not  now  so  much  a  peculiarity  of  Methodism,  as  in  its 
earlier  history,  because  other  churches  are  now  adopt- 
ing it,  and  revival  influences,  I  am  glad  to  say,  are 
now  almost  as  common  among  them  as  among  us. 

Further,  Methodism  has  steadily  maintained  that, 
by  virtue  of  the  blood  of  Christ,  and  the  operations  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  it  is  the  privilege  of  the  believer  to 


32  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

enjoy  that  maturity  in  grace  which  excludes  all  sin 
from  the  heart,  and  fills  it  with  perfect  love  to  God  and 
~man  ;  thus  rejecting,  as  anti-scriptural,  the  disheart- 
ening idea  of  the  necessary  continuance  of  sin  in  be 
lievers.  This  high  experience  it  considers  to  be  what 
the  Scriptures  designate  and  enjoin  as  perfection.  Not 
an  absolute  angelic  or  Adamic  perfection  ;  not  a  per- 
fection which  does  not  admit  of  constant  additions  of 
grace,  nor  which  is  exempt  from  human  infirmities  or 
temptations  ;  but  just  such  a  state  as  is  described  by 
St.  Paul  in  the  first  verse  of  the  eighth  chapter  of  his 
Epistle  to  the  Romans  :  "  There  is,  therefore,  now  no 
condemnation  to  them  that  are  in  Christ  Jesus,  who 
walk  not  after  the  flesh,  but  after  the  Spirit ;  for  the 
law  of  the  spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus  hath  made  me 
free  from  the  law  of  sin  and  death." 

This  doctrine  has  always  been  held  up  in  the  Meth- 
odist Church  as  tTie  true  standard  of  Christian  attain- 
ment. This  is  also  of  late,  I  am  happy  to  say,  begin- 
ning to  be  taught  by  other  denominations. 

Our  ministry  have  also  strenuously  urged  the  ne- 
cessity of  continuance  in  faith  and  good  works,  as  the 
only  surety  against  final  apostacy  and  ruin,  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  notion  that  if  a  person  is  once  truly  a  Chris- 
tian, he  has  no  such  freedom  that  he  can  ever  aposta- 
tize so  as  to  be  finally  lost.  We  believe  Paul's  appre- 
hension for  his  own  safety  ignored  this  view,  when  he 
said :  ''  But  I  keep  under  my  body  and  bring  it  into 


MR.    CLARK'S   LECTURE.  33 

subjection,  lest  that  by  any  means  when  I  have 
preached  to  others,  I  myself  should  be  a  castaway." 
1  Cor.  ix.  27. 

It  has  always  been  a  deep  and  moving  conviction  in 
the  ministry  and  laity  of  our  church,  that  he  only  who, 
by  his  own  free  will,  endureth  unto  the  end,  shall  be 
saved. 

Methodism  has  further  maintained,  that  it  is  the 
privilege  of  all  Christians  to  enjoy  a  personal  know- 
ledge of  forgiveness  through  the  direct  witness  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  This  witness  is  defined  to  be  simply  an 
assurance  given  to  the  believer  of  his  acceptance  \^th 
God  —  "the  Spirit  of  adoption,  whereby  we  cry,  Abba 
Father."  For  maintaining  this,  the  Methodist  min- 
istry have  been  charged  with  propagating  a  licentious 
and  dangerous  doctrine.  It  would  indeed  be  such,  if 
paralleled  by  the  Calvinistic  view  of  perseverance. 
No  one  who  holds  that  if  a  person  once  becomes  a 
child  of  God  he  can  never  apostatize,  so  as  to  be 
finally  lost,  can  safely  teach  that  one  may  know 
beyond  a  doubt  that  he  is  a  child  of  God,  for 
by  so  doing  he  will  remove  from  him  all  motive 
to  "give  diligence  to  make  his  calling  and  election 
sure." 

He  should  aim  to  keep  the  church,  as  a  coiadition  of 
perseverance,  where,  in  all  sincerity,  they  will  sing  as 
they  have  been  taught, 


34  PITTS-STREET    CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

"  'Tis  a  point  I  long  to  know, 
Oft'  it  bringeth  anxious  thought ; 

Do  I  love  the  Lord,  or  no  1 
Am  I  his,  or  am  I  not  1 " 

But  with  the  Arminian  view  of  perseverance,  the 
doctrine  of  the  du'ect  witness  of  the  Spirit  becomes  a 
powerful  stimulant  to  a  courageous  battling  for  eter- 
nal life.  Hence,  Methodists  have  always  been  taught 
from  their  pulpits,  never  to  reckon  themselves  Chris- 
tians until,  with  a  full  heart,  they  can  sing, 

"  My  God  is  reconciled, 

His  pardoning  voice  I  hear ; 
He  owns  me  for  his  child, 

I  can  no  longer  fear  : 
With  confidence,  I  now  draw  nigh, 
And  Father,  Abba  Father,  cry." 

This  teaching  could  not  do  otherwise  than  lead  to  a 
marked  positiveness  in  Christian  experience,  which 
has  begotten  an  Apostolic  vigor  and  boldness  in  draw- 
ing the  distinction  between  the  Christian  and  the 
merely  moral  character. 

It  is  this  which  has  made  the  piety  of  Methodists 
proverbial  for  its  cheerful  tone,  and  sunny-side  view 
of  life  and  immortality. 

These  doctrines  —  a  free  and  full  salvation  through 
the  atonement  of  Christ,  the  necessity  of  uncompelled 
perseverance  to  final  salvation,  a  future  retribution, 
and  the  witness  of  the  spirit  to  our  adoption,  brought 


MR.    CLARK'S   LECTURE.  35 

out  and  enforced  in  the  way  I  have  barely  indicated, 
are  what  have  vitalized  the  Methodist  church  ;  they 
have  been  to  it  a  very  Leyden  jar,  surcharging  it  with 
electric  forces,  and  making  it  luminous  with  the  ele- 
ments of  an  experimental  Christianity. 

It  is  no  uncommon  remark  among  a  class  of 
sincere,  practical  Christians,  "  We  don't  want  to 
hear  doctrinal  sermons,  but  rather  practical  ones," 
as  though  the  two  could  not  well  be  combined 
in  the  same  sermon.  But  you  do  not  hear  that 
remark  from  Methodists.  The  reason  is,  that  the 
doctrines  they  are  accustomed  to  hear  from  their 
pulpits,  are  all  eminently  practical  and  common 
sense,  and  the  most  unlettered  feast  on  them  as 
the   hungry   man   does   on  the   choicest   viands. 

2.  I  next  ask  your  attention  to  the  care  which 
the  Methodist  church  has  exercised  to  secure  for 
herself  an  experimental  and  practical  ministry  as  a 
means    of  success. 

,  She  has  done  this  by  placing  three  qualifications 
for  the  sacred  office  paramount  to  mere  scholar- 
ship. 

The   first   is    a   sound    Christian    experience. 

It  is  an  axiomatic  truth  with  Methodism,  that 
Christianity  being  a  great  experimental  science,  no 
man  can  be  qualified  to  preach  its  doctrines  un- 
less  he   himself  has   been   regenerated   by  it,   so   as 


36  PITTSrSTREET   CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

to  declare  its  truths  as  an  experience^  and  not 
merely  as  opinions.  For  a  confirmation  of  her  ortho- 
doxy on  this  point  you  have  only  to  mark  the  fre- 
quency with  which  Paul,  in  his  speeches  and  letters, 
brings  forward  his  own  experience,  to  illustrate  and 
enforce  the  truths  he  promulgates. 

An  original  aptitude  to  the  work  of  the  min- 
istry, is  a  second  qualification,  regarded  by  the 
Methodist  church  as  paramount  to  literary  quali- 
fications. 

There  are  many  good  farmers,  who  never  could 
make  good  mechanics ;  good  book-keepers,  who 
could  never  be  successful  merchants.  There  are 
many  ripe  scholars,  who  can  never  make  good, 
practical  physicians ;  there  are  good  physicians, 
Vv^ho  could  never  become  good  lawyers,  and  vice 
versa.  There  is  something  back  of  an  education, 
requisite  to  success  in  any  profession.  The  gos- 
pel ministry  is  by  no  means  an  exception  to  this 
rule.  Unquestionably  there  are  many  men  in  the 
ministry  to-day,  placed  there  mainly  on  account  of 
their  literary  qualifications,  who  ought  not  to  be 
there.  They  are  neither  successful,  nor  happy  in 
their  work.  Their  abilities  do  not  command  for 
themselves  a  competent  support ;  and  the  worst  of 
all  is,  they  do  not,  and  cannot  earn  it,  Sunny 
Sides  and  Shady  Sides,  to  the  contrary  notwith- 
standing. 


MR.  Clark's  lecture.  37 

Some  of  them  are  good  ethical  lecturers,  and 
would  fill  well  a  chair  of  pliilosophy ;  others  would 
make  good  lawyers ;  others,  good  physicians ;  others, 
good  educators  ;  but  good  ministers  they  can  never 
be,   because   it   is    not   in   them   to   become    such. 

Education  will  develop  them,  but  can  no  more 
make  them  successful  ministers  than  it  can  evolve 
an   entity    out   of  a   non-entity. 

A  third  requisite  to  entering  the  Methodist  min- 
istry, is  a  divine  call  to  it.  The  Methodist  church 
has  always  held,  that  forasmuch  as  the  Chris- 
tian ministry  is  a  divine  institution  for  a  specific 
object,  God  sets  apart  nltn  for  it  by  the  inward 
movings  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  And  that  none,  how- 
ever eminent  their  literary  attainments,  should  enter 
it,  without  an  experience  akin  to  that  of  Paul, 
when  he  declared,  "  Wo  is  me  if  I  preach  not 
the    Gospel." 

These,  three  tests  which  I  have  just  named  — 
a  genuine  Christian  experience,  original  aptitude  to 
the  general  work  of  the  ministry,  and  a  divine  call 
to  it,  must  be  rigidly  applied  to  every  candidate 
for  the  Methodist  ministry.  And  in  order  to  this, 
no  one  can  enter  it  except  on  being  licensed  by 
a  Quarterly  Conference,  composed  of  the  official 
members  of  the  society  with  which  the  candidate 
is  connected,  and  who  have  had  ample  opportunity 
to  observe  his  piety,  and  gifts,  as  developed  in  his 


38  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

daily  life,  in  social  religious  meetings,  and  other 
departments  of  Christian  effort.  On  being  thus 
licensed  and  recommended  by  the  same  body  as  a 
suitable  person  to  enter  the  Itinerancy,  he  may  be 
received,  if  needed,  into  the  Annual  Conference  on 
trial,  and  after  two  years'  labor  in  that  relation, 
if  he  prove  faithful  and  successful,  and  pass  satis- 
factory examinations  upon  a  prescribed  course  of 
.theological  study,  he  may  be  received  into  full  con- 
nection, and  be  elected  to  deacon's  orders.  Two 
years  subsequent  to  this,  he  becomes  eligible  to 
elder's  orders,  provided  his  services  continue  to  be 
acceptable,  and  he  has  passed  satisfactory  examina- 
tions  on  an  additional  course   of  study. 

Literary  qualifications  for  the  ministry,  the  Meth- 
odist church  has  always  regarded  as  of  high  import- 
ance. If  any  one  doubts  this,  we  refer  him  to  the 
literary  and  theological  institutions  now  under  its 
patronage,  to  which  I  shall  soon  allude,  and  which 
were  early  established  with  the  express  purpose  of 
affording  young  men,  who  felt  called  to  the  min- 
istry, an  opportunity  to  qualify  themselves  for  enter- 
ing it. 

She  has  always  insisted  on  the  highest  mental 
culture  for  her  ministry  that  the  circumstances  would 
justify.  In  her  early  history,  she  had  not  men 
trained  in  the  schools  at  her  command.  And  rigidly 
applying  the  three  before-named  tests,  she  took  men 


MR.    CLARK'S   LECTURE.  39 

from  the  plough  and  the  workshop,  and  wherever 
else  they  were  to  be  found,  and  sent  them  forth  to 
preach  an  experimental  gospel.  Moved  by  the  Holy 
Ghost  to  their  work,  and  with  the  doctrines  of  the 
gospel  burning  on  their  hearts,  as  an  inward  expe- 
rience and  life  discipline,  they  poured  them  forth, 
not  as  nicely-shaped  opinions,  but  as  the  living 
fire  of  their  inner  life.  A  strange  power  attended 
their  preaching,  and  thousands  were  brought  annu- 
ally by  it  to  the  foot  of  the  cross.  Few  of  them 
indeed  were  scholars,  but  many  of  them  were,  in 
a  just  sense,  educated  men  —  men  whose  minds 
were  trained  to  consecutive  thought,  and  were  ever 
able  to  command  their  resources,  and  meet  success- 
fully any  emergency  incident  to  their  work.  They 
were  masters  in  polemic  theology;  else  what  shall 
be  said  of  the  learned  divines  who,  throughout  the 
land,  unsuccessfully  antagonized  their  preaching  ? 
They  must  have  been  men  of  giant  strength,  or, 
as  has  been  said  of  them,  they  could  no  more  have 
wielded  as  they  did  the  weapons  they  drew  from 
the  gospel  magazine,  than  maimed  Vulcan  could 
have    hurled  the  thunderbolts  he  forged. 

Whether,  in  her  emergency,  the  Methodist  church 
acted  wisely  in  employing  such  men  in  her  min- 
istry, let  the   results   decide. 

3.  I  am  to  state  in  the  next  place  her  appli- 
ances for   promoting   an   active   and    growing    piety 


40  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

in  her  membership,  as  a  third  peculiar  means  of 
her   success. 

The  first  is  great  caution  in  receiving  members 
into  full  fellowship.  No  one  can  be  thus  received 
until  he  has  stood  on  probation  at  least  six  months, 
and  has  been  recommended  for  full  membership  by 
a  leader  whom  he  has  weekly  met  in  class,  and 
whose  duty  it  is  to  inquh'e  on  these  occasions 
into  his  spiritual  state,  and  to  give  him  such  coun- 
sel as  he  may  deem  most  needed.  At  the  expi- 
ration of  his  probation,  if  his  outward  walk  has 
been  consistent  with  a  profession  of  faith,  and  his 
leader  is  satisfied  that  he  possesses  a  sound  Chris- 
tian experience,  the  pastor  may  extend  to  him  the 
right  hand  of  Christian  fellowship. 

I  will  here  further  add,  that  such  a  Christian  ex- 
perience is  the  only  essential  qualification  for  lay 
membership  in  the  Methodist  church.  She  is  not 
afraid  to  risk  the  orthodoxy  of  any  person  in  her 
Itiity  who  gives  what  to  her  is  satisfactory  evidence 
that  he  is  thoroughly  a  regenerated  man  —  that  he 
loves  God  with  all  his  heart,  and  his  neighbor  as 
himself. 

She  has  a  doctrinal  basis  on  which  all  her  candi- 
dates for  the  ministry  are  rigidly  examined;  but  it 
has  never  been  her  usage  to  require  candidates  for 
church  membership,  embracing  as  they  always  must, 
or    should,  every  grade  of  intellect  and  intelligence, 


4:1 

to  subscribe  to  any  creed  drawn  out  in  the  form  of 
theological  propositions.  And  yet  there  is  no  church 
where  greater  harmony  in  religious  sentiment  prevails 
than  in  the  Methodist  church.  There  has  never  been 
a  schism  in  it  on  doctrines. 

Nor  is  this  harmony  the  result  of  vagueness.  You 
will  find  no  body  of  Christians  able  to  give  a  more 
intelligent  exposition  of  their  religious  faith.  The 
truth  ot  this  assertion  you  can  test  at  any  time  by  in- 
stituting the  requisite  inquiries. 

In  the  next  place,  Methodism  has  ever  steadily 
aimed  to  develop  in  the  highest  degree  practicable  the 
gifts  of  her  laity.  Her  Class  Meetings,  Love  Feasts, 
and  Prayer  Meetings  are  conducted  with  this  object 
particularly  in  view.  All,  on  these  occasions,  of  both 
sexes,  and  of  whatever  abilities,  are  encouraged  to  par- 
ticipate in  the  exercises,  by  "  a  word  of  exhortation," 
the  relation  of  Christian  experience,  vocal  prayer,  and 
singing.  Their  zeal  is  hereby  mutually  stimulated, 
and  the  social  element,  with  the  spiritual,  is  called  out 
and  consecrated. 

This  topic  I  will  dismiss  by  quoting  a  few  para- 
graphs endorsed  by  Dr.  Wayland  as  from  a  distin- 
guished layman  of  his  own  communion.  I  offer  them 
not  as  of  special  interest  to  Methodists  themselves, 
l^t  as  appropriate  testimony  for  others,  to  the  prac- 
tical wisdom  of  Methodism  in  the  development  and 
use  of  her  talent. 

4* 


42  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

"  In  thousands  of  instances  the  whole  of  a  Chris- 
tian profession  amounts  simply  to  this  :  An  individual 
is  found  ivillirig  to  join  the  church,  and  is  introduced 
by  the  pastor,  perhaps  with  the  consent  of  the  deacons 
A  very  few  stereotyped  leading  questions  are  asked  by 
the  pastor,  with  a  whispered  yes  or  no  in  reply  to  them, 
a  listless  non-negative  vote,  the  baptism,  the  right-hand 
of  fellowship,  a  seat  at  the  Lord's  Table,  the  name  re- 
corded on  the  church-book  —  and  they  are  in  the 
church,  too  often  on  the  shelf.  The  work  seems  now 
completed,  while,  in  fact,  it  is  only  the  enlistment ;  the 
labor  and  the  fighting  have  hardly  begun  yet.  They 
have  no  positive  specific  duties  assigned  to  them  ;  no 
one  to  mark  their  progress  or  take  note  of  their  delin- 
quencies if  they  fail ;  no  regular  plan  of  operations  to 
employ  the  tongue,  the  hand,  and  the  heart  of  every 
member.  The  Bible  is  plain  enough,  '  They  that 
feared  the  Lord  spake  often  one  to  another.,^  '  exhorting 
one  another,'  '  speaking  to  yourselves  '  —  but  we  fail  in 
the  practice  of  these  duties.  Ministers  fail  in  fostering 
these  duties,  and  then  often  complain  that  their  preach- 
ing is  powerless,  without  seeing  and  feeling  that  the 
iron  must  be  heated  before  you  can  work  it  —  that  a  re- 
ligious atmosphere,  by  prayerful  active  duty  among  all 
the  membership,  must  be  kept  up,  or  nothing  can  be 
effectually  done.  Our  Methodist  brethren  have  their 
weekly  class-meetings,  for  conference  and  contributions 
both,  and  these,  I  feel  assured,  are  the  sources  and 


MR.  clakk's  lecture.  43 

gi'ound-work  of  the  immense  increase  of  that  denomi- 
nation, now  largely  ahead  of  us,  though  we  had  a  cen- 
tury or  more  the  start  of  them.  Their  class-meetings 
'  keep  them  all  at  it,  and  always  at  it."  Here  every 
absentee  is  noted  and  inquired  for,  and  not  one  present 
can  be  a  mute-tongued  Christian.  All  participate,  and 
every  warm-hearted,  real  Christian,  enjoys  it;  and  here 
all  the  talent  for  usefulness  possessed  by  every  member 
must  be  brought  out  and  duly  appreciated." 

"  These,"  says  Dr.  W.,  "  are  the  words  of  a  lay 
brother,  whose  opportunities  for  observation  have  been 
as  large,  whose  labors  have  been  as  abundant,  and 
whose  sacrifices  for  the  cause  of  Christ  have  been  as 
great,_as  those  of  any  Christian  of  my  acquaintance, 
at  whose  feet  I  would  willingly  sit  for  counsel.  I  hope 
they  will  be  duly  pondered.by  all  my  readers.  If  ever 
we  mean  to  do  our  duty  in  the  conversion  of  the  tcorld^ 
we  must  be  '  all  at  it,  and  always  at  it.''  Every  brother 
must  do  his  part  of  the  labor.  And  then  the  House 
of  the  Lord  will  be  builded." 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  this  picture  of 
Methodism,  held  up  for  emulation  to  his  own  commu- 
nion by  our  zealous  Baptist  brother,  finds  not  its  per- 
fect original  in  every  Methodist  church.  No  church, 
whose  members  are  gathered  from  this  world  in  its 
present  state,  and  whose  standard  is  truly  Christian, 
will  find  it  practicable  to  bring  them  all  fully  up  to  it. 


44  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

4.  I  ask  your  attention,  in  the  last  place,  to  the  Itin- 
erancy^ as  the  fourth  peculiar  instrumentality  of  Meth- 
odism. 

This  is  based  upon  what  is  believed  to  be  the  grand 
design  of  ecclesiastical  economy,  which  is  evangelic 
aggression.  The  design  of  its  Great  Head,  it  is  be- 
lieved, in  establishing  a  visible  church,  was  not  to 
found  little  ecclesiastical  republics,  but  to  organize  an 
army  for  the  conquest  of  the  world.  He  declares  of 
himself  that  he  came  not  to  send  peace  on  earth, 
but  a  sword ;  a  figurative  expression  strongly  mark- 
ing the  militant  spirit  of  his  mission  —  a  spirit  which 
pervades  and  electrifies  the  whole  New  Testament 
dispensation  —  and  which  demands  for  its  legitimate 
development,  as  we  think,  a  militant  organization. 
Such  is  the  Methodist  Itinerancy.  It  consists  in  a 
body  of  men,  who  voluntarily  enroll  themselves,  to 
be  sent  out  from  year  to  year,  by  an  authority  which 
they  themselves  have  vested  in  a  person  of  their 
choice,  to  those  fields  of  moral  warfare  where  the 
one  having  the  general  oversight  of  the  campaign 
deems  their  services  most  needed,  and  most  likely  to 
be  successful. 

In  other  words,  it  consists  of  conferences  of  minis- 
ters, who  receive  their  appointments  annually  from  one 
of  several  General  Superintendents  whom  they  have 
appointed  to  take  the  general  oversight  of  their  work, 
and  preside  over  their  annual  sessions.  On  these  occa- 


MR.   CLARK'S  LECTURE.  45 

sions  he  is  met  by  the  Presiding  Elders  of  the  Confer- 
ence, who  have  visited  quarterly  all  the  charges  upon 
their  respective  districts  for  the  purpose  of  acquaint- 
ing themselves  with  the  condition  and  wants  of  the 
several  societies,  and  the  qualifications  and  circum- 
stances of  the  ministers,  and  attending  to  other  of- 
ficial and  religious  duties. 

Upon  their  representations,  and  what  personal  knowl- 
edge he  himself  may  have,  the  General  Superintend- 
ent, with  the  counsel  of  the  Presiding  Elders,  makes 
out  the  appointments  of  the  preachers  for  the  ensuing 
year,  each  preacher  and  society  having  been  consulted 
as  far  as  circumstances  would  allow. 

"  The  individuals  of  an  aggressive  evangelical 
body,"  says  Isaac  Taylor,  "  must  all  be  subject  to 
stern  law ;  they  must  be  accustomed  to  act  and  to 
move  by  rule  and  order ;  and  they  must  go  forth  single, 
full  of  an  effective  energy  — jnore  than  their  own  — 
that  is  to  say,  the  energy  of  the  collective  force  which 
sends  them  out."  This  is  the  philosophy  of  itinerant 
efiiciency. 

The  cry  of  tyranny  has  been  raised  against  this  sys- 
tem. But  have  you  marked  the  fact,  that  this  cry  does 
not  come  from  those  working  under  this  economy  ?  It 
is  simply  a  night-mare  figuring  in  the  night-visions  of 
hypochondriacs  outside  the  pale  of  Episcopal  Metho- 
dism. 

We  have,  indeed,  vested  power  in  the  hands  of  those 


46  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

whom  we  have  placed  at  the  head  of  our  forces  — 
power  which,  if  held  unconditionally,  and  extending 
to  life,  liberty,  or  property,  would  be  dangerous.  What 
w^ould  an  army  be  without  commanding  officers  ? 

But  what  possible  danger  can  there  be  in  the  power 
of  the  commander,  so  long  as  it  may  be  taken  from 
him  immediately  when  unjustly  used,  or  if  he  be  guilty 
of  any  other  "  improper  conduct ;  "  and  so  long  as  en- 
rollment in  the  militant  ranks  is  strictly  voluntary. 

If  the  Presiding  Bishop  shall  see  fit,  at  our  next 
Conference,  to  station  me  at  some  Botany  Bay,  and 
my  militant  zeal  does  not  covet  such  a  field,  I  can,  if  I 
please,  file  out  of  the  ranks,  and  that  will  be  the  end 
of  the  matter.  Or,  if  I  choose  to  remain  and  disobey 
his  orders,  I  am  amenable  not  to  him,  but  to  my  Con- 
ference, composed  of  my  brethren,  to  the  number  of 
one  hundred  and  twenty -five.* 

*  It  ought,  perhaps,  to  be  stated,  that  the  appointments  annually  made 
at  our  Conferences,  usually  give  almost  universal  satisfaction.  There  is 
not,  probably,  an  equal  number  of  ministei'S  in  any  other  denomination, 
who  change  their  fields  of  labor  with  less  friction  than  is  experienced  by 
Methodist  itinerants  in  annually  or  biennially  changing  theirs.  Our  Bish- 
ops, by  their  judgment,  candor,  and  piety,  justly  share  the  highest  confi- 
dence and  esteem  of  both  the  ministry  and  laity. 

Not  a  stain  has  ever  been  found  on  their  ermine  in  the  whole  history 
of  Metliodism  ;  unless  an  exception  be  made  in  the  case  of  Bishop  An- 
drew, who  unfortunately  became  connected  with  the  system  of  slavery  by 
marriage,  and  on  account  of  which  he  was  suspended  from  the  functions 
of  his  office.  This,  with  other  matters  relating  to  slavery,  led  to  the  seces- 
sion of  the  southern  portion  of  the  church. 


MR.    CLARK'S    LECTURE.  47 

It  is  true,  occasionally  one  falls  out  of  the  itinerant 
ranks,  finding  the  hardships  of  the  campaign  greater 
than  he  is  willing  to  endure.  Like  the  amateur  officer 
in  the  Crimea,  who  went  there  with  a  poetic  idea  of 
battles  from  reading  knight-errantry,  and  who,  in  the 
first  affray,  was  found  skulked  under  a  parapet, 
and  on  being  rallied  by  a  fellow  officer,  replied,  "  He 
had  no  taste  for  fighting  ;  "  and  by  the  next  steamer 
was  on  the  way  back  to  his  mother. 

That  the  duties  of  the  itinerancy  call  for  heroism,  is 
conceded.  But  so  long  as  no  class  of  persons  can  be 
found  more  contented  in  their  work  than  Methodist 
itinerants,  the  subject  of  tyranny  in  the  system  under 
which  they  labor  may  as  well  lie  on  the  table,  awaiting 
further  disclosures. 

The  limits  of  this  discourse  will  not  allow  me  to 
dwell  here  on  the  merits  of  this  system.  Objections 
can  be  raise'd  against  it,  as  against  every  human  sys- 
tem. 

Let  it  be  tested  by  the  experiment  it  has 'made  ;  and 
this  is  the  severest  test  to  which  a  practical  economy 
can  be  subjected.  Ericson's  theory  of  motive  power 
won  admiration  as  a  theory,  but  failed  in  experiment. 
You  need  not  be  told  that  the  Methodist  Church  could 
never  have  had  a  being  but  for  the  Itinerancy. 

The  Methodist  Church  on  both  continents,  dating 
its  origin  but  little  over  a  century  ago,  with  its  more 
than  two  million   communicants,  gathered  not  from 


48  PITTS-STREET    CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

other  churches,  but  from  the  world,  and  with  its  ten 
millions  of  the  human  family  regularly  attending  its 
pulpit  ministrations,  is  the  result  to  which  we  refer 
you  as  evidence  of  the  practical  good  sense,  the  sound 
philosophy,  of  the  Methodist  Itinerancy. 

There  is  a  thought,  probably,  in  some  of  your  minds, 
to  which  I  ought,  perhaps,  just  to  refer,  in  concluding 
this  topic.  It  is  this  ;  both  conquest  and  growth  are 
laws  of  Christian  progress.  Is  the  Itinerancy  as  well 
adapted  to  the  latter  as  to  the  former  ?  Or,  in  other 
words  more  general,  are  the  spirit  and  economy  of 
IMethodism  as  well  adapted  to  the  training  and  growth 
of  churches  already  established  in  well  organized  com.- 
munities,  as  to  planting  churches  in  destitute  portions 
of  the  land  ? 

I  will  reply  to  this  also,  by  simply  alluding  to  what 
the  Methodist  Church  has  done,  and  is  doing,  in  this 
regard,  leaving  you  to  draw  your  own  inferences. 

Mr.  Wesley  was  the  first  to  project  the  plan  of  gra- 
tuitous Sunday  School  instruction,  five  years  subse- 
quent to  Robert  Raikes'  experiment,  and  ten  years 
before  the  London  Sunday  School  Society  ceased 
paying  its  teachers,  and  which  expended,  in  the  first 
sixteen  years  of  its  existence,  not  less  than  $20,000  in 
the  salaries  of  teachers. 

The  first  Sunday  School  established  in  ihe  United 
States  was  established  by  Bishop  Asbury,  in  the  year 
1786.     From  the  year  1790,  downward,  the   Sunday 


49 

School  has  been  officially  recognized  and  sanctioned 
by  the  Methodist  Church. 

When  they  numbered  scarcely  sixteen  thousand 
members,  the  Methodists  of  America  gave  $40,000  to 
the  erection  of  a  college.  At  present  we  have  in  the 
northern  branch  of  the  Methodist  Church,  nineteen 
colleges,  valued  at  $1,655,900,  with  one  hundred  and 
five  professors,  and  two  thousand  nine  hundred  and 
sixty-two  students  ;  two  Theological  Institutions,  val- 
ued at  $343,000  ;  and  sixty-live  Seminaries,  valued  at 
$1,190,000,  with  three  hundred  and  six  teachers,  and 
fourteen  thousand  five  hundred  and  seventy-two  stu- 
ients. 

We  have  a  Sunday  School  Union,  to  which  not  less 
than  $100,000  is  annually  contributed,  and  which  em- 
braces ten  thousand  six  hundred  schools,  containing 
six  hundred  and  four  thousand  one  hundred  and  thir- 
teen scholars,  with  one  hundred  and  ninety-five  thou- 
sand three  hundred  and  eight  volumes  in  its  libraries, 
and  a  Sunday  School  paper  with  one  hundred  and  five 
thousand  five  hundred  and  twenty-six  subscribers. 

AVe  have,  furthermore,  two  large  publishing  estab- 
lishments, which,  in  the  last  four  years,  have  published 
seven  million  two  hundred  and  twenty-six  thousand 
four  hundred  and  nine  copies  of  bound  books,  and 
eight  million  three  hundred  and  sixty-two  thousand 
five  hundred  and  seventeen  tracts  and  pamphlets. 

We  have  also  a  Tract   Society,  which,  at  the  last 


50  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

General  Conference,  had  two  hundred  and  eight  col 
porteurs  and  agents,  distributing  for  the  year  nearly 
one  hundred  and  thirty-six  thousand  volumes,  and 
twelve  million  pages  of  tracts,  visiting  one  hundred 
and  eighty  thousand  families,  and  with  a  catalogue  of 
about  eight  hundred  publications  in  English,  German, 
French,  and  Scandinavian,  and  an  aggregate  of  more 
than  $40,000  contributed  for  the  year. 

Our  church  also  supports  nine  religious  weeklies,  a 
theological  Quarterly  Review,  and  two  literary  and 
religious  monthlies.  The  whole  number  of  subscrib- 
ers to  our  different  periodicals  is  two  hundred  and 
eighty-five  thousand  four  hundred  and  sixty. 

The  valuation  of  our  church  edifices,  according  to 
the  last  United  States  census,  is  $14,636;671.  Greater 
than  that  of  any  other  denomination  in  the  country  by 
$266,782. 

A  word  of  comment  upon  these  statistics,  I  am  sure, 
cannot  be  needed  by  this  intelligent  audience,  to  con- 
vince them  that  the  elements  of  internal  development 
and  consolidated  growth,  are  as  operative  in  the  Meth- 
odist church,  as  in  any  other  religious  body. 

But  this  is  not  a  full  statement  of  the  truth.  Sta- 
tistics show  that  Methodism  here  in  New  England 
has,  at  the  present  time,  a  more  vigorous  growth  than 
any  of  her  sister  denominations ;  the  ratio  of  her  in- 
crease for  the  last  decade  being  greater  than  that  of 


MR.  Clark's  lecture.  51 

any  other.  According  to  published  statistics*  the 
ratio  of  increase  in  Congregationalists  for  the  last 
fourteen  years,  ending  with  the  year  1855,  was  6.02 
per  cent. ;  that  of  the  Baptists,  7.52  per  cent. ;  that 
of  the  Methodists,  8.37  per  cent. 

It  is  not  until  within  a  comparatively  recent  period 
that  our  church  has  been  able  to  occupy  foreign  mis- 
sionary fields ;  her  hands  having  been  full  of  mission- 
ary work  at  home ;  though  she  now  has  missions  es- 
tablished in  Scandinavia,  Germany,  China,  India,  Bul- 
garia, Africa,  South  America,  and  among  the  abori- 
gines of  this  country.f 

While  Methodism  has  done  more  in  foreign  mis- 
sions than  any  of  her  sister  denominations  had  done 
at  her  age,  yet  it  will  be  many  years  before  she  will 
occupy  a  position  so  grand  in  this  work  as  the  Ameri- 
can Board  and  the  Baptist  Union.  All  honor  to  them 
for  the  noble  stand  they  have  taken  in  pagan  lands. 
And  if  they  advance  so  rapidly  that  we  are  never  able 
to  overtake  them,  we  will  rejoice  in  it,  and  expect  one 
day  to  raise  a  shout  with  them  on  the  battlements  of 
heaven  over  a  world  redeemed. 

*  "  Couvert's  Counsellor." 

tin  England,  where  the  home  field  is  less  extensive,  the  Methodists 
have  taken  the  lead  in  foreign  missionary  work.  The  Wesleyan  Mission- 
ary Society  has  more  missionaries  and  assistants,  scholars,  communicants 
and  hearers,  in  the  foreign  field,  and  a  greater  annual  income  than  any  other 
missionary  organization  in  the  world.  —  See  Butler's  Chart. 


52-  PITTS-STREET    CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

If  now  I  should  be  asked  to  state  in  a  word  why  I 
remain  a  Methodist,  I  should  say,  that  while  I  love 
and  honor  my  brethren  of  other  names  for  their  zeal 
and  success  in  the  common  cause  of  Christianity,  I  be- 
lieve the  Methodist  church,  in  its  doctrines  and  econo- 
my, is,  better  than  any  other,  adapted  to  the  work 
of  regenerating  the  world.  And  yet  I  believe  it  is  a 
blessing  to  Methodism  to  have  other  religious  bodies 
side  by  side  with  her,  working  for  the  same  ultimate 
end.  A  generous  denominationalism  is  demanded  as 
a  healthful  stimulant  and  corrective.  Various  ecclesi- 
astical organizations  are  needed  in  the  vast  work  of 
evangelizing  the  world,  as  stagings  are  required  on 
every  side  of  the  edifice  during  its  erection.  But  as 
when  the  edifice  is  completed,  the  staging  is  thrown 
down  as  worthless,  so  when  the  great  temple  of  Chris- 
tianity is  completed,  and  "  the  head  stone  thereof  has 
been  brought  forth  with  shoutings  of  grace !  grace  ! 
unto  it,"  the  denominational  scaffolding  will  be  thrown 
down  and  forgotten,  in  admiration  of  the  sublime 
structure  which  is  to  stand  forever  to  the  praise  of 
Him  who  laid  its  foundation  by  the  sacrifice  of  him- 
self. 


SECOND    LECTURE. 


BY 


REV.  THOMAS  B.  THAYER, 

PXSTOK    OF    THE    FIFTH    UNIVERSALIST     CHURCH 
WARKEN    STREET. 


53 


\ 


n.  . 

WHY   AEE    YOU    A    UNIVERSALIST  V 


"I  TIIIXK    MYSELF    HAPPY    BECAUSE  I   SHALL    ANSWER    FOR    MYSELF."— 
Acts  XXVI.   2. 

This  question  is  supposed  to  be  addressed  to  the 
speaker  by  the  audience,  and  his  business  is  to  answer 
it,  giving  to  those  who  ask  it  a  reason  for  the  hope  that 
is  in  him. 

In  order,  however,  to  a  fair  understanding  of  the 
subject,  it  is  fitting  that  I  should  give  a  just  definition 
of  the  term  "  Universalism."  It  is  not  simply  the  one 
idea  that  all  men  will  be  saved.  It  is  not  a  unit,  but 
a  system  of  theology,  embracing  many  particulars. 
Let  me  with  the  utmost  brevity  state  some  of  these. 

1st.  Universalism  asserts  the  unity  of  God,  that  he 
is  One,  Infinite  in  all  his  perfections,  and  consequently 
rejects  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity. 

2nd.  Christ  is  the  Son  of  God,  gifted  above  all 
others  —  above  angel  and  archangel  —  with  the  spirit 
and  power  of  God,  as  the  Representative  of  his  Jjove, 
and  the  Savior  of  the  world. 

55 


60  PITTS-STREET    CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

3d.  It  rejects  the  doctrine  of  vicarious  atonement, 
and  asserts  the  fundamental  truth,  that  every  trans- 
gressor must  suffer  the  punishment  of  his  own  sin.  It 
teaches  the  forgiveness,  or  removal,  of  sin,  but  not  of 
punishment.  He  that  'walketh  on  coals  of  fire,  must 
be  burned. 

4th.  It  denies  the  doctrine  of  total  depravity  and 
original  sin,  as  equally  a  libel  on  God  and  man,  and 
asserts  the  natural  goodness  of  the  human  heart. 

5th.  It  teaches  the  rewards  of  righteousness,  and 
the  punishments  of  sin ;  and  beyond  these,  that  the 
blessedness  of  the  immortal  life  is  the  gift  of  God,  not 
of  works,  lest  any  man  should  boast. 

6th.  It  teaches  that  Salvation  is  not  deliverance  from 
the  torments  of  an  endless  hell,  but  from  the  bondage 
of  sin  ;  that  it  is  inward  and  spiritual,  and  not  from 
any  outward  evil. 

7th.  It  teaches  the  necessity  of  repentance  and 
regeneration,  as  the  equivalent  of  salvation  ;  that 
there  can  be  no  salvation  without  these,  since  without 
these  there  can  be  no  abandonment  of  sin. 

8th.  It  teaches  that  all  punishment,  whether  here  or 
hereafter,  is  corrective,  and  must  therefore  come  to  an 
end ;  and  that  finally,  through  the  agencies  of  his 
infinite  wisdom  and  love,  God  will  reconcile  and 
restore  all  souls  to  himself,  and  good  shall  be  tri- 
umphant fore  verm  ore. 


I 


MR.    THAYEU'S    LECTURE.  57 

These  are  the  leading  doctrines  of  Universalism,  the 
essential  positions  of  what  it  regards  as  Christian 
theology. 

Of  course  it  is  not  possible  in  a  single  lecture  to 
illustrate  and  defend  all  these  points,  nor  do  I  suppose 
it  is  expected  I  should  do  so.  The  object  of  this 
course  is  the  discussion  of  that  particular  doctrine 
which  gives  to  each  speaker  his  denominational  name 
and  position,  and  distinguishes  him  more  especially 
from  the  rest.  In  the  present  case  that  doctrine  is 
undoubtedly  that  of  the  final  redemption  of  the  whole 
human  family,  and  the  establishment  of  perfect  har- 
mony in  the  moral  and  spiritual  universe.  To  this, 
therefore,  I  shall  devote  my  labor,  and  ask  your  atten- 
tion. 

I  shall  draw  my  answers  to  the  question,  "  Why  are 
you  a  Universalist  ?  "  from  the  Works  of  God,  from 
the  Nature  of  Man,  from  the  Divine  Character,  and 
from  the  Sacred  Scriptures. 

I.    FROM    THE    WORKS    OF    GOD. 

1.  Everything  in  Nature  reveals  the  benevolence 
and  love  of  God  toward  man.  Everything  is  arranged 
for  his  convenience,  and  comfort,  and  happiness.  The 
paternal  goodness  shows  itself  in  every  greatest  and 
least  thing  —  the  day  and  the  night,  the  seed  time  and 
the  harvest,  summer  and  winter,  the  succession  of  fruits 


58  PITTS-STREET    CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

on  the  earth,  the  foliage  of  the  forests,  the  flowers,  the 
birds  of  the  air,  the  cattle  on  a  thousand  hills,  the  rivers 
and  the  sea-^  all  declare  the  love  of  him  who  has 
built  up  this  beautiful  earth  as  the  home  of  man  for 
the  few  years  he  is  here. 

Now,  I  cannot  believe  that  he  who  has  wrought  sc 
abundantly  and  kindly  for  the  brief  life  of  the  body, 
has  been  less  careful  or  bountiful  in  his  provision  for 
the  life  of  the  soul,  which  is  eternal.  Nature  forbids 
the  thought.  Each  ray  of  sunshine,  each  falling  rain 
drop,  the  lily  in  the  field,  the  humblest  flower,  is  a  wit- 
ness of  the  infinite  and  ever  active  love  of  God  to  man 
on  earth.  But  what  is  our  life  on  earth,  compared 
with  the  endless  life  of  the  soul  ?  It  is  only  the  shadow 
compared  with  the  substance  ;  and  surely  the  goodness 
which  has  so  lavishly  poured  out  its  blessings  on  the 
first,  will  not  fail  in  its  mercies  to  the  last. 

Every  day  I  read  this  lesson  out  of  the  works  of 
God.  Every  time  the  sun  shines  on  me,  every  breath 
of  the  pure  atmosphere,  every  beauty  of  the  landscape, 
every  splendor  of  the  heavens,  strengthens  my  faith  in 
the  sublime  utterance  of  the  apostle,  that  "  neither 
angels,  nor  principalities,  nor  powers,  nor  life,  nor 
death,  nor  things  present  nor  things  to  come,  can  sep- 
arate us  from  the  love  of  God,  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus 
our  Lord."  —  Rom.  viii. 

2.  I  am  a  Universalist,  because  I  believe  God  is 
omnipotent  in  the  spiritual  world,  as  well  as  in  the 


MR.    THAYER'S   LECTURE.  50 

natural  world  ;  and  that  he  has  adapted  moans  to  ends 
as  efficiently  and  successfully  in  the  first  as  in  the  last. 
Nothing  in  the  physical  universe  fails  of  its  end.  The 
atmosTihere,  the  sunshine,  the  rain,  electricity,  fire,  the 
ocean,  the  tree,  the  gi'ain  of  wheat,  every  element  of 
nature,  answers  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  created. 
Why  should  the  truth  and  grace  of  God  alone  fail  in 
their  appointed  work  ?  Why  should  the  Gospel,  why 
should  Infinite  Love,  be  the  only  forces  of  God  which 
are  eternally  defeated  of  their  ends? 

Let  us  look  at  this.  If  I  should  stand  here  to-night 
and  affirm  that  on  a  certain  time  one  of  the  planets 
had  broken  from  the  hold  of  the  sun,  and  wandered 
from  its  orbit,  and  that  God  had  exerted  his  power  in 
vain  to  restore  it,  and  was  obliged,  after  exhausting  all 
the  resources  of  his  strength,  to  abandon  the  task,  and 
leave  it  to  drive  into  remediless  confusion  and  wreck, 
would  you  not  say  this  was  virtual  atheism  and  blas- 
phemy ? 

But  is  it  any  less  atheism  or  blasphemy  to  say  that 
the  moral  or  spiritual  world  has  drifted  out  from  its 
orbit,  and  that  God  is  exerting  all  his  power  througli 
Christ  to  restore  it,  and  will  not  succeed  ;  but  finally, 
uitterly  defeated,  will  be  compelled  to  abandon  the 
attempt,  and  let  it  drive  down  into  the  abysses  of  end- 
less confusion  and  sin  ?  I  confess  I  cannot  see  the 
slightest  difference  in  these  two  positions. 

But  such   a  disastrous  result  cannot  come  in  the 


60  PITTS-STREET    CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

physical  or  spiritual  world,  so  long  as  God  rules  in 
both.  As  sure  as  the  coming  of  the  rain  in  its  season, 
as  sure  as  the  budding  of  the  earth  in  spring,  so  surely 
will  God,  by  the  power  of  his  love  and  truth,  renew  and 
restore  the  moral  world.  This  is  the  lesson  which  all 
creation  reads  to  us  day  by  day  ;  and  God  himself  has 
authorized  the  argument.  Hear  his  own  words  :  "  For 
as  the  rain  cometh  down,  and  the  snow  from  heaven, 
and  returneth  not  thither,  but  watereth  the  earth,  and 
maketh  it  bring  forth  and  bud,  that  it  may  give  seed  to 
the  sower,  and  bread  to  the  eater ;  so  shall  my  word 
be  that  goeth  forth  out  of  my  mouth  —  it  shall  not 
return  unto  me  void,  but  it  shall  accomplish  that  ivliich 
I  please^  and  it  shall  prosper  in  the  thing  whereto  I  sent 
t7."— Isaiah  xx.  10,  11. 

Can  anything  be  more  direct  and  positive  than  this  ? 
Was  it  ever  known  that  the  rain  came  down  from 
heaven  and  went  back  again,  without  watering  the 
earth  ?  Was  it  ever  known  that  God  failed  to  restore 
the  earth  in  spring  time,  and  make  it  bud  and  bring 
forth  ?  Never.  Well,  God  declares  that  just  as  cer- 
tainly as  the  rain  does  not  return  to  the  heavens  with- 
out doing  the  work  for  which  it  was  sent,  so  certainly 
his  word  shall  not  return  to  him  void.  As  surely  as 
the  living  forces  of  nature  in  spring  renew  and  freshen 
the  earth  into  beauty  and  abundance,  so  surely  shall 
his  truth,  the  gospel  of  his  grace,  renovate  and  restore 
the  moral  world  to  its  primeval  beauty  and  purity. 


Mli.    TFIAYER-'S    LECTUIiE.  61 

Now,  as  God  has  given  his  witness  on  this  point  in 
such  plain  and  unqualified  terms,  I  have  no  more  to 
say  than  this  —  that  I  believe  him,  and  therefore  am  a 
Universalist. 

This  is  all  that  time  and  room  will  allow  me  to  offer 
on  this  part  of  the  argument ;  and  it  is  intended  only 
as  an  illustration  of  the  method  of  argument  from  the 
works  of  God. 


II.    FKOM    THE    NATURE    OF    MAN. 

1.  I  argue  from  the  nature  of  man  for  the  final  abo- 
lition of  evil,  and  the  triumph  of  good  on  this  ground  : 
Who  of  us,  if  he  had  the  power  to  bring  all  souls  into 
harmony  with  truth  and  goodness,  would  not  do  it  ? 
We  might  permit  the  existence  of  evil,  of  pain,  and 
suffering,  for  a  time,  for  the  purpose  of  discipline,  or 
for  many  wise  and  merciful  results ;  but  who  would 
ordain  evil  as  an  end  ?  Who  would  rest  in  it  as  a  final 
result  ?  Who  would  permit  it  as  an  eternal  thing, 
when  he  could  prevent  it  in  perfect  accordance  with 
the  established  laws  of  human  nature,  and  to  the  infi- 
nite good  of  all  interested  ? 

God  can  do  this,  and  while  I  feel  sure  that  you  or  I 
would  do  it,  if  we  could,  I  dare  not  say,  I  cannot  be- 
lieve, that  God,  who  can  do  it,  will  not  do  it.  I  can- 
not take  the  impious  ground  that  I  am  better  than 
God,  more  kindly  disposed  towards  my  brothers,  than 


62  PITTS-STREET    CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

he  is  towards  his  children !  I  dare  not  say  that  my 
heart  is  more  merciful  and  benevolent  than  God's,  or 
that  I  shudder  and  shrink  from  doinsr  what  he  will  do  I 

And  it  is  no  reply  to  this  to  say  that  God  permits 
evil  and  suffering  in  this  world.  Temporary  evil,  evil 
as  a  means,  admits  of  explanation  ;  but  evil  as  a  final 
result,  endless  evil,  admits  of  no  explanation. -  To  say 
that,  if  present  evil  is  consistent  with  the  goodness  of 
God,  then  endless  evil  may  be  consistent  with  it,  is 
proving  too  much.  I  might  reply  with  equal  force  of 
analogy,  that  if  God,  consistently  with  his  goodness, 
permits  tlie  righteous  to  suffer  here,  for  a  season,  then 
he  may  by  the  same  rule  permit  them  to  suffer  here- 
after endlessly. 

But  to  return.  I  know  that  my  whole  soul  revolts 
from  the  bare  thought  of  endless  torment  —  of  a  soul 
kept  in  being  through  all  eternity  for  the  sole  and  only 
purpose  of  suffering  —  denied  the  privilege  of  dying 
under  the  torture  —  sustained  and  forced  into  life  by 
exertion  of  Almighty  Power,  that  it  may  agonize  and 
writhe  in  torments  which  would  crush  an  Archangel, 
if  it  were  not  for  this  direct  action  of  God  in  support- 
ing life  ! 

This  is  frightful  beyond  expression,  and  only  a  fiend 
could  devise  such  cruelty  —  nay,  even  Satan  himself 
would  weary  of  it  at  last — and  every  man  who  has 
in  him  a  heart  of  flesh,  says,  "/would  not  do  it !  My 
whole  being  cries  out  against  it,  and  if  God  is  infin- 
tely  good,  He  will  not  do  it  I  " 


MR.    THAYER'S   LECTURE.  (j'd 

2.  I  believe  in  universal  redemption  as  the  only  per- 
manent and  secure  foundation  on  which  heaven  itself 
can  rest.  If  the  common  doctrine  on  this  subject  be 
true,  every  individual  in  this  assembly  will  lose  some 
dear  friend,  parent,  husband,  wife,  or  child,  or  brother, 
or  sister. 

Now,  it  is  not  possible  for  us  here  to  witness  the 
suffering  of  such  as  these,  without  keenest  sympathy 
with  them.  Our  nerves  quiver  and  tremble  with  every 
groan,  with  every  convulsion  of  the  anguished  frame, 
with  every  cry  of  agony  which  breaks  from  them. 
What  peace  or  rest,  what  joy  is  there  for  you,  when 
your  wife,  or  child,  or  mother,  is  torn  with  racking 
pain,  or  crushed  with  most  horrible  bodily  torture? 
Can  you  sit  beside  them  and  sing,  and  make  merry  ? 
Can  you  go  about  your  duties  and  pleasures,  utterly 
indifferent,  while  they  writhe  in  agony,  and  cry  aloud 
to  you  for  help  ? 

Look  at  this  a  little.  If  your  child  fall  into  the  fire, 
or  your  sister  or  brother  fall  into  the  water,  and  you 
hear  their  screams  for  help,  can  you  look  on  and  see 
them  struggling  in  the  anguish  of  a  dreadful  death, 
and  make  no  effort  to  relieve  them  ?  feel  no  pain,  no 
throb  of  sympathy  ? 

But  this  agony  is  only  for  a  few  minutes,  at  most ; 
while  the  torments  of  hell  are  a  million  fold  greater, 
and  endless  as  the  life  of  God !  If  you  cannot  be 
happy  in  view  of  those,  how  can  you  bear  these  last  ? 


64  PITTS-STREET    CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

Are  you  to  be  more  or  less  loving  in  heaven  ?  Do  you 
expect  to  be  changed  there  ?  But  how  —  into  fiends 
or  angels  —  into  better  or  worse?  Surely  heaven  is 
not  to  rob  us  of  all  the  noblest  attributes  of  our  na- 
ture, and  crush  out  all  the  generous  sympathies  which 
make  our  life  here  so  beautiful  and  Christ-like. 

And  in  this  connection  I  have  often  thought  of 
David  and  Absalom.  You  know  how  the  wicked 
young  man  sinned  against  his  indulgent  and  affection- 
ate old  father ;  and  yet  how  that  father  clung  to  him 
through  all  his  waywardness  and  sin,  even  to  the  last 
his  love  never  wearying,  never  faltering  for  a  moment. 

How  touching  his  charge  to  his  captains,  as  they 
went  forth  to  battle  :  "  Deal  gently  for  my  sake  with 
the  young  man,  even  with  Absalom."  And  when  they 
told  him  that  the  young  man  was  killed,  how  overwhelm- 
ing the  flood  of  anguish  which  burst  upon  the  father's 
heart :  "  O  my  son  Absalom,  my  son,  my  son  Absa- 
lom !  would  God  I  had  died  for  thee  !  O  Absalom,  my 
son,  my  son  !  " 

Now,  when  David  stands  in  heaven  —  even  if  he  is 
no  more  loving  and  forgiving  than  he  was  here  —  and 
looking  round  finds  Absalom  is  not  there,  but  writhing 
in  the  torments  of  the  pit,  transfixed  with  all  the  fiery 
darts  of  Satan,  will  not  that  cry  of  agony  break  from 
him  again  :  "  O  Absalom,  my  son,  would  God  I  had 
died  for  thee  !     O  my  son,  my  son  Absalom  !  " 

And  if  it  be  so  —  if  his  heart  there  be  as  warm,  and 


MR.    THAYER'S    LECTURE.  G5 

tender,  and  generous  as  it  was  here,  what  will  heaven 
be  worth  to  him  without  Absalom  ?  And  if  it  be  not 
so  —  if  now  he  can  fling  his  son  off  from  his  heart, 
and  give  him  over  to  endless  tortures,  without  one 
emotion  of  pity  or  sympathy  —  which  shall  we  honor 
and  love  most,  the  David  of  earth,  or  the  David  of 
heaven  ? 

These  are  questions  which  press  upon  every  mind 
and  heart  with  tremendous  weight,  and  reveal  to  the 
thoughtful  and  loving  Christian  how  utterly  impossible 
is  the  bliss  of  heaven  side  by  side  with  the  torments  of 
hell.  There  is  no  heaven  possible  for  us  without  the 
presence  of  those  we  love.  And  every  body  loves  some 
one,  and  every  body  is  loved  by  some  one.  It  is  not 
in  the  nature  of  things,  that  these  loving  ones  can  go 
part  to  a  heaven  of  joy,  and  part  to  a  world  of  woe. 
Heaven  itself  would  demand,  as  the  condition  of  its 
own  blessedness,  that  hell  shall  be  abolished;  that 
there  shall  come  an  end  to  suffering,  and  that  all  shall 
have  part  in  the  joy  of  the  restoration. 

III.    FROM    THE    CHARACTER    OF    GOD. 

I  am  a  Universalist,  because  the  character  and  attri- 
butes of  God  cannot  be  made  to  harmonize  with  any 
other  view  of  the  results  of  the  divine  government. 

To  say  nothing  of  his  goodness,  we  must  surely 

believe  that  if  God  really  wishes,  and  has  purposed  to 
6* 


C6  PITTS-STREET    CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

save  all  men,  his  infinite  wisdom  is  able  to  devise  seme 
successful  plan  for  its  accomplishment.  Say  whatso- 
ever can  be  said,  of  the  free  agency  of  man,  of  the 
obstinacy  and  depravity  of  the  human  heart,  of  the 
rejection  of  the  conditions  of  salvation  —  there  is,  after 
all,  a  simple  reply  to  all  this.  God  either  did,  or  did 
not,  foresee  all  these  difficulties  when  he  devised  the 
plan  of  redemption  ;  if  he  did  not  foresee  them,  then 
his  knowledge  is  not  infinite  —  but  all  agree  that  it  is. 
He  did,  then,  foresee  these  difficulties,  and  of  course, 
foreseeing,  he  provided  against  them,  and  the  plan 
adopted  was  adopted  with  express  reference  to  over- 
coming them.  There  is,  therefore,  no  way  of  justifying 
the  Wisdom  of  God,  but  in  the  removal  of  all  evil,  and 
the  final  restoration  of  all  souls. 

But  again :  the  knowledge  of  God  embraced  the 
fate  of  every  soul  he  was  about  to  create.  Let  us  con- 
sider this.  Far  back  in  the  solitudes  of  eternity  God 
was  alone.  Man  was  not.  It  was  optional  with  God 
whether  he  would  create  such  a  being  as  man,  or  not. 
His  infinite  knowledge  took  in  all'the  possibilities  of 
his  existence  ;  his  fall,  his  depravity,  his  temptations 
^nd  sins,  the  abuse  of  his  free  agency,  and  eveiy  mi- 
nutest thing  which  could  influence  his  condition,  and 
work  up  into  the  web  of  his  destiny. 

Now,  would  Infinite  Goodness  create  you  or  me 
with  the  certain  knowledge  that  the  existence  he  was 
about  to  bestow  would  prove  an  endless  curse  to  us  ? 


MR.    THAYETl'S    LECTURE.  07 

Is  it  possible  to  believe  so  monstrous  a  thing  of  our 
dear  Father  in  Heaven  ?  Can  we  conceive  of  a  more 
awful  absurdity  than  this  yoking  together  Infinite  and 
Everlasting  Love  with  infinite  and  everlasting  Woe  ? 
■ '  God  is  Love."  —  1  John  iv. 

No ;  the  all-embracing  knowledge  of  God  asso- 
ciated with  the  act  of  giving  existence,  is  a  solemn 
pledge' on  his  part,  that  the  existence  given  shall  prove 
a  final  blessing  to  its  possessor. 

But  the  divine  Justice  requires  the  same  thing.  It  is 
perfectly  idle  and  absurd  to  argue  for  endless  torment 
as  the  just  punishment  of  sin.  The  very  instincts  of  our 
nature,  as  well  as  reason,  repudiate  such  a  monstrous 
abuse  of  the  name  of  justice.  The  idea  that  the 
wrongs  of  this  momentary  life  are  to  be  visited  with 
unutterable  tortures,  perpetuated  through  all  eternity, 
is  too  horrible  for  thought ;  and  no  ingenuity  of  argu- 
ment, no  possible  plea  of  necessity,  can  make  us  feel 
that  it  is  right  or  fitting. 

Beside,  this  awful  vengeance  is  inflicted  by  a  God 
who  has  suffered  nothing  by  the  sin.  He  is  lifted 
above  all  possibility  of  injury  by  anything  man  can  do. 
Our  sin  cannot  reach  him,  or  in  any  way  disturb  the 
foundation  of  his  throne  ;  and  yet  how  dreadful  the 
vengeance  he  wreaks  on  his  helpless  children  I 

If  it  be  said  that  justice  to  those  who  suffer  from 
sin  and  crime  demands  the  punishment,  I  have  only  to 
say,  that  no  human  being,  however  much  he  may  have 


QS  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

suffered,  desires  such  a  fiendish  revenge  as  endless  tor- 
ture. You  do  not  ask  it,  I  do  not ;  no  mortal,  not  even 
the  most  depraved,  desires  it.  And  if  they  who  have 
suffered  do  not  ask  it — if  the  injured  wife  of  a  drunken 
husband,  if  the  victim  of  oppression,  if  the  slave,  if 
even  the  victim  of  the  murderer  —  does  not  demand 
such  horrible  punishment,  why  should  God,  who  suffers 
nothing,  demand  it,  and  call  it  justice  ? 

No  ;  the  justice  of  God  forbids  it ;  and  all  the  Scrip- 
tures say,  he  will  reward  men  according  to  their  works. 
But  an  eternity  of  woe  is  not  according  to  a  moment 
of  sin,  though  its  consequences  are  life-long,  and  an 
injury  to  every  mortal  on  earth.  There  is  no  propor- 
tion between  time  and  eternity ;  no  proportion  between 
a  finite  sin  and  an  infinite  punishment.  The  justice 
of  God,  therefore,  demands  an  end  to  punishment,  and 
the  final  redemption  of  all.  And  it  is  this  very  attri- 
bute of  God  —  his  eternal,  unerring  justice  —  which 
constitutes  one  of  the  chief  corner  stones  of  our  faith, 
and  makes  us  forever  confident  that  all  pain  shall 
finally  cease,  and  all  evil  end  in  good. 

But  there  is  another  argument  drawn  from  the  char- 
acter of  God.  It  is  certainly  safe  to  say  that  an  in- 
finitely good  being  will  do  something  differently  from 
what  an  infinitely  evil  being  would  do.  But  what 
could  an  infinitely  evil  being  do  more  than  to  inflict 
endless  torment  on  those  he  hated  ?  If  you  were  about, 
for  example,  to  describe  the  character  of  Satan,  his 


MR.    THAYER'S    LECTURE.  69 

cruelty  and  revenge,  what  could  you  say  of  him  worse 
than  that  he  would  cast  his  victims  into  a  fiery  furnace 
of  torture,  and  decree  that  they  should  live  eternally, 
only  that  he  might  torment  them  eternally  ?  What 
more,  I  ask,  could  Satan  himself  do  than  this  ? 

And  can  any  Christian  believe  that  the  same  descrip- 
tion of  character  and  conduct  applies  equally  to  God 
and  the  Evil  One  ?  Can  any  one  believe  that  the  worst 
thing  you  can  say  of  Satan,  is  the  very  thing  itself  which 
God  will  do  ?  I  dare  not  say  this  !  I  dare  not  believe 
it !  My  creed  teaches  me  that  an  infinitely  good  being 
will  do  the  very  opposite  of  what  the  devil  would  do. 
And  so  I  reject  the  doctrine  of  endless  woe,  and  believe 
in  universal  grace  and  salvation,  because  the  character 
of  God,  as  an  infinitely  good  being,  demands  it. 

IV.    ARGUMENT    FROM    THE    SCRIPTURES. 

I  believe  in  universal  redemption,  because  the  Scrip- 
tures teach  it  in  every  variety  of  method  and  language, 
by  inference  and  direct  statement,  positively  and  nega- 
tively, morally  and  doctrinally. 

1.  I  cite  two  passages  to  show  the  character  of  the 
inferential  argument  in  one  direction  only.  In  Acts  iii. 
it  is  wi'itten :  "  Unto  you  first  God,  having  raised  up 
his  Son  Jesus,  sent  him  to  bless  you" — How?  The 
apostle  is  stating  the  very  object  for  which  God  sent 
Christ,  and  if  he  sent  him  to  save  from  endless  woe,  he 


70  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

will  say  SO,  Does  he?  "Sent  him  to  bless  you,  by 
turning  away  every  one  of  you  from  his  iniquities.''^ 
He  came  to  save  from  iniquity,  hence,  "  thou  shalt  call 
his  name  Jesus,  for  he  shall  save  his  people  from  their 
sins^  —  Matt.  i.  21.  Note,  too,  that  his  people  are 
sinners,  and  that  by  saving  them  he  makes  them  saints 

—  but  they  are  his  before  they  are  saved,  and  he  saves 
them  because  they  are  his. 

So  Paul,  in  Galatians  i. :  "  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
who  gave  himself  for  our  sins,  that  he  might  deliver  us 
from  this  present  evil  world,  according  to  the  will  of 
God  our  Father.'-' 

Here  again  the  apostle  declares  the  very  object  for 
which  Christ  gave  himself ;  and  surely,  if  ever  there 
was  a  time  to  announce  the  doctrine  of  future  endless 
woe,  this  was  it.  Yet  not  a  word  about  it  from  first 
to  last.  But  the  argument  is  not  negative  merely,  but 
positive  ;  for  he  not  only  does  not  say  that  he  came  to 
save  us  from  a  future  evil  world,  but  he  does  say  posi- 
tively that  he  came  to  save  us  from  the  evil  and  sin  of 
this  present  world. 

The  logical  inference  from  these  and  similar  pas- 
sages is  this.  If  Christ  did  not  come  to  save  us  from 
endless  punishment,  then  we  were  not  exposed  to  it, 
and  if  we  were  not  exposed  it,  then  certainly  the  doc- 
trine is  not  true.  And  if  it  be  not  true,  then  its  op- 
posite —  the  final  holiness  and  blessedness  of  all  men 

—  is  true. 


MR.    THAYER'S   LECTURE.  71 

2.  The  Moral  argument  from  Scripture. —  I^m 
a  Universalist,  because  there  seems  to  me  no  other 
way  of  explaining,  or  giving  authority,  to  the  moral 
precepts  of  the  gospel.  For  example  :  "  If  thine  enemy 
hunger,  feed  him  ;  if  he  thirst,  give  him  drink  ;  for  in 
so  doing  thou  shalt  heap  coals  of  fire  on  his  head.  Be 
not  overcome  of  evil,  but  overcome  evil  with  good." 
—  Rom.  xii.  20. 

Now,  is  it  possible  to  believe  that  God  never  intends 
himself  to  overcome  evil  with  good,  and  yet  commands 
us  to  do  it  ?  Can  he  expect  us  to  act  from  a  higher 
plane  of  thought  and  sentiment  than  he  himself  acts 
from  ?  Will  he  bid  us  to  burn  away  the  enmity  of  our 
foes  by  the  fire  of  our  own  love  and  kindness,  when  he 
plunges  those  who  offend  him  into  the  flames  of  eter- 
nal vengeance  ?  He  commands  us  to  feed  our  enemies 
when  they  hunger,  but  his  must  agonize  with  the  tor- 
tures of  endless  famine,  while  there  is  bread  enough 
and  to  spare  in  their  Father's  house!  Can  any  rational 
person  believe  this  ? 

But  again.  It  is  written,  "  Love  your  enemies,  bless 
those  who  curse  you,  that  you  may  be  like  your  Father 
in  heaven ;  for  he  causeth  his  sun  to  shine  on  the  evil 
and  the  good,  and  sendeth  rain  on  the  just  and  on  the 
unjust.  For  if  ye  love  them  which  love  you,  what  re- 
ward have  ye  ?  Do  not  even  the  publicans  the  same  ? 
Be  ye  therefore  perfect,  even  as  your  Father  which  is 
in  heaven  is  perfect."  —  Matt.  v.  44-48. 


72  PITTS-STREET    CHAPEL    LECTURES.     . 

^How  overwhelming  is  the  argument  here.  If  God 
commands  us  to  love  our  enemies,  will  not  he  do  it  ? 
Does  he  command  us  to  be  more  generous  and  forgiv- 
ing than  he  is  ?  Will  he  bid  us  poor,  frail,  tempted 
creatures  to  return  blessing  for  cursing,  and  good  for 
evil,  when  he,  who  is  exalted  above  all  weakness,  and 
passion,  and  provocation,  has  not  the  moral  strength 
nor  courage  to  do  it  himself  ?  Wito  dares  say  this  ? 
They  who  do  say  it  —  who  affirm  that  he  will  love 
only  those  who  love  him  —  bring  him  down  to  the 
level  of  the  publicans  —  for  "  do  not  even  the  publi- 
cans the  same  ?  '^ 

Beside,  if  God  returns  evil  for  eVil,  and  cursing  for 
cursing,  then  what  are  we  to  do,  when  we  are  exhorted 
to  "  be  perfect  as  God  is  perfect,  to  be  followers  of  God 
as  dear  children  ?  "  —  Eph.  v.  If  we  follow  God  we 
must  do  as  he  does  —  return  cursing  for  cursing,  and 
overcome  evil  with  evil.  On  the  other  hand,  if  in  re- 
turning good  for  evil,  and  love  for  hatred,  we  follow 
God,  then  he  will  do  the  same ;  and  by  the  fire  of  love 
will  purge  out  all  our  evil,  and  renev/  us  in  his  own 
heavenly  image. 

3.  The  next  argument  from  the  Bible  is  the  Cor- 
rective Nature  of  the  Divine  Punishments,  and 
directly  confirmatory  of  the  moral  argument,  that  God 
will  overcome  evil  with  good. 

There  is  no  doctrine  more  clearly  taught  m  the 
Scriptures  than  the  punishment  of  sin.     Every  trans- 


MR.    THAYER'S   LECTURE.  73 

gression  will  certainly  receive  a  just  recompense  of 
reward.  God  is  "  long  suffering,  patient,  forgiving  in- 
iquity, transgression,  and  sin,  but  will  by  no  means 
clear  the  guilty."  And  it  would  be  neither  just  nor 
merciful  to  do  it,  since  punishment  is  one  of  the  means 
by  which  the  sinner  is  brought  to  consider  the  evil  of 
his  ways,  and  finally  to  repentance  and  reformation. 

The  Psalmist  says,  "  Before  I  was  afflicted  I  went 
astray,  but  now  have  I  kept  thy  word  —  thou  art  good, 
and  doest  good.  I  know,  O  Lord,  that  thy  judgments 
are  right,  and  that  in  faithfulness  thou  hast  afflicted 
me.  It  is  good  for  me  that  I  have  been  afflicted, 
that  I  might  learn  thy  statutes."  —  cxix.  67,  71,  75. 

"  The  Lord  will  not  cast  off  forever ;  but  though  he 
cause  grief,  yet  he  will  have  compassion,  according  to 
the  multitude  of  his  fnercies,  for  he  doth  not  afflict 
wiflingly,  nor  grieve  the  children  of  men."  —  Lam.  iii. 

Hence  it  is  written,  "  Hapj)y  is  the  man  whom  God 
correcteth,  therefore  despise  not  thou  the  chastening  of 
the  Almighty — for  he  maketh  sore,  and  bindeth  up ;  he 
woundeth,  and  his  hands  make  whole."  —  Job.  v. 

These  passages  reveal  the  purposes  of  God  in  his 
punishments  and  chastisements,  viz  :  to  correct  and 
make  spirituaUy  whole  again.  Of  course  therefore  they 
must  come  to  an  end.  But  this  is  beautifully  iUus- 
trated  and  confirmed  by  the  apostle  in  Hebrews  xii. 
"  My  son,  despise  not  thou  the  chastening  of  the  Lord, 
nor  faint  when  thou  art  rebuked  of  him,  for  whom  the 


74  PITTS-STREET    CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

Lord  loveth  he  chasteneth,  and  scourgeth  every  son 
whom  he  receiveth.  Furthermore,  we  have^had  fathers 
of  the  flesh,  which  corrected  us,  and  we  gave  them 
reverence  ;  shall  we  not  much  rather  be  in  subjection 
unto,  the  Father  of  Spirits,  and  live  ?  For  they  verily 
for  a  few  days  chastened  us  after  their  own  pleasure ; 
but  he  for  our  profit^  that  ive  anight  be  partakers  of  his 
holiness.  Now,  no  chastening  for  the  present  seemeth 
to  be  joyous,  but  grievous  ;  nevertheless,  afterward  it 
yieldeth  the  peaceable  fruits  of  righteousness  to  them 
that  are  exercised  thereby. 

It  would  not  be  easy  to  frame  language  into  phrases 
more  positively  declarative  of  the  corrective  nature  of 
divine  punishments  thaii  these.  And  then,  to  make  it 
plain  beyond  doubt,  we  are  assured  that  there  is  an 
"  afterward "  to  these  chastisements,  and  this  is  the 
"  peaceable  fruit  of  righteousness." 

It  only  remains  to  say  that  we  believe  the  testimony, 
and  therefore  believe  with  the  Psalmist,  that  "  the  Lord 
is  merciful  and  gracious,  slow  to  anger  and  plenteous 
in  mercy.  He  ivill  not  always  chide  ;  neither  will  he 
keep  his  anger  forever."  —  Ps.  ciii.  8,  9.  And  we  re- 
joice in  the  words  of  the  Father  himself,  who  says,  "i 
luill  not  contend  for  ever  ^neither  loill  I  be  always  wroth; 
for  the  spirit  should  fail  before  me,  and  the  souls  which 
I  have  made."  —  Isa.  Ivii.  15-21. 

4.  Direct  testimony  from  the  Scrirtures.  — 
Time  and  room   demand  the  briefest  form  of   state- 


75 


ment,  with  the  least  elaboration  of  argument.  I  shall, 
therefore,  throw  the  texts  into  classes  as  much  as  pos- 
sible. 

1.  The  purpose  of  God.  "  Having  made  known 
unto  us  the  mystery  of  his  will,  according  to  his  good 
pleasure^  which  he  hath  purposed  in  himself  that  in 
the  dispensation  of  the  fulness  of  times,  he  might 
gather  together  in  one  all  things  in  Christ,  both  which 
are  in  heaven,  and  which  are  on  earth,  even  in  him." 
-  Eph.  i. 

Here  is  a  distinct  declaration  of  the  purpose  of  God 
to  gather  to  himself  all  things  in  Christ.  "  All  things," 
says  Archbishop  Newcome,  "  means  all  persons,  all  in- 
telligent beings."  What  is  intended  by  this  ingathering, 
cannot  be  mistaken,  and  if  it  could,  the  apostle  shuts 
off  all  error  by  repeating  the  thought  in  Col.  i. :  "  For  it 
pleased  the  Father  that  in  him  should  all  fulness  dwell, 
and  having  made  peace  through  the  blood  of  his  cross, 
by  him  to  reconcile  all  things  to  himself;  by  him,  I  say, 
whether  they  be  things  in  earth,  or  things  in  heaven." 
God,  then,  declares  that  it  is  his  purpose  and  his 
pleasure  to  reconcile  all  men  to  himself  through 
Christ. 

Observe,  we  are  to  be  reconciled  to  God  —  not  God 
to  us.  The  Scriptures  always  state  it  so.  —  Eph.  ii. ; 
2  Cor.  V. ;  Rom.  v. ;  xi. 

The  question  now  is.  Will  the  purpose  of  God  fail, 
and  his  pleasure  be  defeated  ?    The  Bible  will  answer; 


76  PITTS-STREET    CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

and  I  quote  the  passages,  be  it  observed,  merely  for  the 
general  principle  involved,  viz :  that  whatever  God 
really  purposes,  he  can  and  will  do. 

"  The  Lord  of  hosts  hath  sworn,  saying,  surely,  as  I 
have  thought,  so  shall  it  come  to  pass  ;  and  as  I  have 
purposed,  so  shall  it  stand."  —  Isaiah  xiv.  24.  Again  ; 
"  The  Lord  of  hosts  has  purposed,  and  who  shall  dis- 
annul it ;  his  hand  is  stretched  out,  and  who  shall  turn 
it  back  ?  " — verse  27.  "  I  have  purposed,  I  will  also  do 
it."  —  Isaiah  xlvi.  11.  And  so  of  his  pleasure  :  ''  My 
counsel  shall  stand,  and  I  will  do  all  my  pleasure."  — 
verse  10. 

Whatever  God  therefore  purposes  he  will  do  ;  and 
hence  Paul  speaks  of  "  the  purpose  of  him  who  work- 
eth  all  things  according  to  the  counsel  of  his  will."  — 
Eph.  i. 

We  see  no  possible  way  of  avoiding  this  conclu- 
sion. No  argument  can  be  more  direct  and  decisive. 
The  two  propositions  given  lead  inevitably  to  the  third. 
Let  us  put  it  in  4he  form  of  a  syllogism. 

Whatever  God  has  purposed  to  do,  he  will  do  : 

God  has  purposed  to  gather  together  in  Christ  all 
things ; 

Therefore^  he  ivill  gather  together  all  things  in 
Christ. 

The  same  may  be  said  of  his  pleasure.  He  declares 
he  will  do  all  his  pleasure,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  certifies 
that  it  is  his  pleasure  to  reconcile  all  men  to  himself; 


MR.    THAYER'S   LECTURE.  77 

and  therefore,  if  these  two  positions  are  true,  the  third 
follows,  beyond  all  possibility  of  refutation,  viz  :  he 
ivill  reconcile  all  men  to  himself  through  Jesus  Christ. 

No  other  result  can  be  reached,  except  by  denying  a 
part  of  the  premises  ;  either  that  God  will  not  do  all 
his  pleasure,  or  that  it  is  not  his  pleasure  to  reconcile 
all  men  in  Christ  —  and  in  either  case  it  is  a  denial  of 
the  record.  And  John  says,  "  He  that  believeth  not 
God,  hath  made  him  a  liar ;  because  he  believeth  not 
the  record  that  God  gave  of  his  Son.  And  this  is  the 
record,  that  God  hath  given  us  eternal  life,  and  this  life 
is  in  his  Son."  —  1  John  v- 

2.  Let  us  refer  to  the  Mission  of  Christ.  The  apos- 
tle exhorts  that  we  should  pray  for  all ;  "  for,"  he  says, 
"  this  is  good  and  acceptable  in  the  sight  of  God,  who 
will  have  all  men  to  be  saved,  and  come  unto  the 
knowledge  of  the  truth.  For  there  is  one  God,  and 
one  Mediator  between  God  and  men  —  the  man  Christ 
Jesus;  —  w^ho  gave  himself  a  ransom  for  all  to  be  tes- 
tified in  due  time.  —  1  Tim.  ii.  *  Again ;  we  are  told 
that  Jesus  "  tasted  death  for  every  many  —  Heb.  ii. 
And  John  declares,  <'  He  is  the  propitiation  for  our 
sins  ;  and  not  for  ours  only,  but  also  for  the  sins  of  the 
tvhole  ivorldy  —  1  Epist.  ii.  And  again  he  says,  "  We 
have  seen,  and  do  testify,  that  the  Father  sent  the  Son 
to  be  the  Savior  of  the  world."  —  iv. 
«  These  plain  and  positive  statements  exclude  all 
necessity  for  argument.    It  is  clear  enough  what  Christ 

7# 


78  PITTS-STEEET    CHAPEL    LECTUEES. 

came  into  the  world  to  do,  and  the  only  question  is 
this,  Will  he  do  it  ?  Will  he  accomplish  the  work  the 
Father  gave  him  to  do  ?  To  this  point  he  witnesses 
by  saying,  "  My  meat  is  to  do  the  will  of  him  that  sent 
me,  and  to  finish  his  work."  —  John  iv.  34.  And  at 
the  close  of  his  mission  on  earth,  he  gives  the  assur- 
ance that  he  had  laid  the  foundation  securely  —  that 
his  truth  and  grace  would  work  effectually,  in  this  tes- 
timony :  "  Father,  I  have  glorified  thee  on  earth ;  I 
have  finished  the  work  thou  gavest  me  to  do."  — 
John  xvii. 

To  this  we  may  add  many  more  passages,  showing 
the  certainty  of  the  world's  redemption  by  Christ.  "  I, 
if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the  earth,  will  draw  all  men 
unto  me."  —  John  xii.  And  the  Spirit  testifies  by  the 
prophet,  that  "the  pleasure  of  the  Lord  shall  prosper  in 
his  hand ;  and  he  shall  see  of  the  travail  of  his  soul, 
and  shall  be  satisfied."  —  Isaiah  liii.  For  how  many 
did  the  soul  of  Christ  travail  ?  For  "  all,"  for  "  every 
man,"  for  "  the  world,"  for  "  the  whole  world,"  as  we 
have  seen ;  and  in  the  complete  deliverance  of  these 
he  shall  be  satisfied.  Shall  be,  not  may  be.  There  is 
no  doubt  nor  contingency. 

Hence  the  angels  proclaimed  the  birth  of  Christ  as 
"  good  tidings  of  great  joy,  which  shall  be  unto^  all 
people."  —  Luke  ii.  And  looking  to  this  grand  result, 
is  the  declaration,  that  "  at  the  name  of  Jesus  ever}* 
knee  should  bow,  of  things  in  heaven,  and  things  in 


MR.   THAYER'S   LECTURE.  79 

earth,  and  things  under  the  earth ;  and  that  every 
tongue  should  confess  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord,  to  the 
glory  of  God  the  Father."  —  Phil.  ii. 

Such  is  the  purpose  and  the  end  of  Christ^s  mission. 
No  ingenuity  of  argument  can  avoid  the  issue,  without 
impeaching  the  witnesses.  I  do  not  wish  to  deceive 
myself,  nor  to  deceive  others.  I  would  not,  know- 
ingly, utter  here  one  word  that,  dying,  I  would  wish  to 
withdraw.  But  it  is  not  possible  for  me  to  see  these 
testimonies  in  any  other  light ;  nor  do  I  see  how  any 
fair  and  honest  mind  can  avoid  the  conclusion  to 
which  they  so  manifestly  lead. 

3.  The  Promises.  God  made  promise  to  Abraham, 
repeating  it  to  Isaac  and  Jacob,  saying  :  "  In  thee  and 
in  thy  seed  shall  all  the  nations,  and  families,  and  kin- 
dreds of  the  earth  be  blessed."  —  Genesis  xii.,  xxii., 
xxvi.,  xxviii. ;  Acts  iii.  These  terms  are  as  comprehen- 
sive as  language  can  be  made  to  be,  and  their  univer- 
sality is  beyond  debate. 

Who  is  this  seed  of  Abraham  ?  Paul  will  answer  : 
"  Now  to  Abraham  and  his  seed  were  the  promises 
made.  He  saith  not  to  seeds  as  of  many,  but  as  of 
one,  to  thy  seed,  which  is  Christ."  —  Gal.  iii.  All 
nations,  families,  and  kindreds  of  earth,  therefore,  are 
to  be  blessed  in  Christ.  In  some  way  every  individual 
human  being  is  to  inherit  the  blessing  of  the  Savior. 

But  how?  What  blessing?  This  is  answered  by 
the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  following  :  "  And  the  Scripture 


80  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

foreseeing  Chat  God  would  justify  the  heathen  through 
faith,  preached  before  the  gospel  unto  Abraham,  say- 
ing, In  thee  shall  all  nations  be  blessed."  —  Gal.  iii. 

I  cannot  make  this  any  plainer.  There  is  no  room 
for  comment  or  argument.  The  promise  to  Abraham 
is  identical  with  the  gospel ;  and  since  this  promise 
embraces  all  the  kindreds  of  the  earth  in  its  blessing, 
how  appropriate  the  angel's  words,  that  the  gospel  is 
"  good  tidings  of  great  joy,  which  shall  be  unto  all 
people."  • 

And  in  the  light  of  these  promises  of  the  great  re- 
demption, how  full  of  meaning  these  and  other  kindred 
passages :  "  There  was  given  him  dominion,  and  glory, 
and  a  kingdom,  that  all  people,  nations,  and  languages 
should  serve  him ;  his  dominion  is  an  everlasting 
dominion,  and  his  kingdom  that  which  shall  not  be 
destroyed."  —  Dan.  vii.  "  All  kings  shall  fall  down 
before  him,  and  all  nations  shall  serve  him  ;  men  shall 
be  blessed  in  him,  and  all  nations  shall  call  him 
blessed." —  Ps.  Ixxvii.  17.  "  All  the  ends  of  the  world 
shall  remember,  and  turn  unto  the  Lord  ;  and  ail  the 
kindreds  of  the  nations  shall  worship  before  him."  — 
Ps.  xxii. 

4.  The  Resurrection.  We  do  not  regard  the  Resur- 
rection as  a  physical  change  merely  —  the  raising  of 
the  body  —  whatever  definition  is  put  on  the  word ; 
but  a  moral  and  spiritual  change,  which  removes  all 
the  elements  of  the  earthly,  and  renews  the  soul  in  the 
likeness  of  God. 


MR.    THAYER'S   LECTURE.  81 

"  The  children  of  this  world  marry  and  are  given  in 
marriage  ;  but  they  which  shall  be  accounted  worthy 
to  obtain  that  world,  and  the  resurrection  from  the 
dead,  neither  marry  nor  are  given  in  marriage,  neither 
can  they  die  any  more  ;  for  they  are  equal  unto  the 
angels,  and  are  children  of  God,  being  the  children  of 
the  resurrection."  —  Luke  xx. ;  Matt.  xxii. 

Now,  who  are  worthy  to  obtain  that  resurrection 
world  ?  or,  in  other  words,  how  many  shall  be  raised 
from  the  dead  ?  Paul  answers  :  "  For  as  in  Adam  all 
die,  even  so  in  Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive."  Mat- 
thew omits  the  sentence,  "  worthy  to  obtain  that  world 
and  the  resurrection  from  the  dead,"  showing  that  he 
attaches  no  weight  to  it  as  an  excluding  or  restricting 
clause.  But  Paul  puts  that  at  rest,  and  shows,  what 
all  Christians  believe,  that  all  mankind  shall  be  raised 
from  the  dead. 

Here,  then,  is  the  argument :  All  who  are  raised 
from  the  dead  will  be  children  of  God,  and  equal  unto 
the  angels  —  all  mankind  will  be  raised  from  the  dead. 
Therefore  all  mankind  will  be  children  of  God,  and 
equal  unto  the  angels. 

The  moral  and  spiritual  nature  of  the  resurrection 
change  is  shown  by  the  manner  of  statement  —  "  and 
are  children  of  God,  being  (the  participle  here  has  the 
force  of  the  word  "  because,"  or  the  phrase  "  for  the- 
reason  that"),  "  beings  or  because,  the  children  of  the 
resurrection."      They  are   spiritually  the  children  of 


82  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

God,  because  this  resurrection,  or  anastasis,  uplifts, 
exalts,  or  raises  the  whole  being  into  the  divine  or 
heavenly  likeness.  Hence  Paul  says,  "  As  we  have 
borne  the  image  of  the  earthy,  we  shall  also  bear  the 
image  of  the  heavenly."  We  shall  —  positive  and 
unqualified. 

And  this  argument  is  pursued  at  great  length  in  1 
Cor.  XV.  "  So  also  is  the  resurrection  of  the  dead.  It 
is  sown  in  corruption,  it  is  raised  in  incorruption  ; 
it  is  sown  in  dishonor,  it  is  raised  in  glory  ;  it  is 
sown  in  weakness,  it  is  raised  in  power  ;  it  is  sown 
a  natural  body,  it  is  raised  a  spiritual  body."  In  the 
same  strain  he  says,  "  We  shall  not  all  sleep  "  —  i.  e. 
die  ;  there  wiU  be  some  living  when  the  end  comes, 
and  the  grand  consummation  takes  place  —  and  this 
shows  that  the  apostle  does  not  mean  himself  and 
brethren  alone  when  he  says  "  we,^  for  they  all  died 
ages  ago  —  he  speaks  of  mankind  generally  —  "  we 
shall  not  all  sleep,  but  we  shall  all  be  changed,  in  a 
moment,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  at  the  last  trump  ; 
for  the  trumpet  shall  sound,  and  the  dead  shall  be 
raised  incorruptible,  and  we  shall  be  changed."  Ob- 
serve, "  the  dead ;  "  not  the  saints  only,  not  any  partic- 
ular dead,  but  all  the  dead. 

"  Then  cometh  the  end,  when  he  shall  have  delivered 
"up  the  kingdom  to  God,  even  the  Father ;  when  he 
shall  have  put  down  all  rule,  and  all  authority  and 
power.     For  he  must  reign  till  he  hath  put  all  enemies 


MR.  Thayer's  lecture.  83 

ander  his  feet.  The  last  enemy  that  shall  be  destroyed 
is  death."  —  This  shows  what  kind  of  enemies  are  to 
be  destroyed,  as  do  also  Heb.  ii.  and  1  John  iii.  "  For 
this  purpose  was  the  Son  of  God  manifested,  that  he 
might  destroy  the  works  of  the  devil " ;  and  "  that 
through  death  he  might  destroy  death,  and  him  tha^ 
hath  the  power  of  death,  that  is,  the  devil."  These 
are  the  enemies  to  be  destroyed,  the  devil,  the  works 
of  the  devil,  death  ;  and  as  the  last  of  these  is  death, 
it  implies  the  destruction  of  all  the  others  previously. 
Then,  when  all  the  enemies  of  God  and  man  are  de- 
stroyed, or,  as  the  apostle  has  it  — 

"  When  all  things  shall  be  subdued  unto  him,  then 
shall  the  Son  also  himself  be  subject  unto  him  that 
put  all  things  under  him,  that  God  may  be  all  in  all !  " 
verses  21-28.     See  the  whole  chapter. 

Nothing  can  add  to  the  strength  or  directness  of  this 
apostolic  argument.  Words  of  mine  would  only 
weaken  it.  I  therefore  close  this  portion  of  the  testi- 
mony with  a  single  additional  passage  :  "  For  the 
creature  (man)  was  made  subject  to  vanity,  not  will- 
ingly, but  by  reason  of  him  who  hath  subjected  the 
same  in  hope  ;  because  the  creature  itself  also  shall  le 
delivered  from  the  bondage  of  corruption  into  the 
glorious  liberty  of  the  Sons  of  God." —  Rom.  viii. 

Here  is  the  same  universality  of  thought  and  lan- 
guage. "  The  creature,"  —  i.  e..  says  the  Orthodox 
Macknight,  "  every  human  creature,"  "  all  mankind," 


84  PITTS-STREET    CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

—  "SHALL  BE  DELIVERED  from  the  bondage 
of  corruption  into  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children 
of  God  ;  "  which  corresponds  perfectly  with  the  decla- 
ration of  Christ,  that  they  "  are  children  of  God,  being 
children  of  the  resurrection."  Well,  in  view  of  this, 
might  Paul  say,  "  None  of  us  liveth  to  himself,  and  no 
man  dieth  to  himself.  For  whether  we  live,  we  live 
unto  the  Lord ;  and  whether  we  die,  we  die  unto  the 
Lord.  Whether  we  live,  therefore,  or  die,  we  are  the 
Lord's."  —  Kom.  xiv. 

I  turn  now  from  these  arguments  of  subjects,  oi 
doctrines  based  -on  classes  of  texts,  to  a  few  single 
passages  furnishing  direct  testimony  to  the  great  re- 
demption. 

1.  Romans  v.  18-21.  "  Therefore  as  by  the  offence 
of  one  judgment  came  upon  all  men  to  condemna- 
tion, even  so  by  the  righteousness  of  one  the  free  gift 
came  upon  all  men  unto  justification  of  life.  For 
as  by  one  man's  disobedience  many  were  made  sin- 
ners, so  by  the  obedience  of  one  shall  many  be  made 
righteous.  Moreover,  the  law  entered  that  the  offence 
might  abound.  But  where  sin  abounded,  grace  did 
much  more  abound.  That  as  sin  hath  reigned  unto 
death,  even  so  might  grace  reign  through  righteousness, 
unto  eternal  life  by  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord." 

This  is  one  of  those  marked  passages  which  seem 
to  shut  out  all  doubt  as  to  the  extent  of  that  grace 


MR.    THAYER'S   LECTURE.  85 

which  came  by  Jesus  Christ.  The  phrases  which  are 
set  over  against  each  other  must  be  allowed  to  be 
equal,  and  the  comparison  perfect.  If  all  men  are  not 
justified,  then  all  men  were  not  condemned.  If  the 
phrase  is  not  universal  on  one  side,  then  it  is  not  on 
the  other.  Whatever  its  force  or  extent,  it  is  the  same 
in  both  cases,  and  you  cannot  condemn  any  more  than 
you  justify.  The  free  gift  of  grace  keeps  side  by  side 
with  the  judgment  of  condemnation. 

And  so  in  the  next  verse,  where  the  thought  is  re- 
peated in  other  language.  The  word  "  many  "  or  "  the 
many,"  ot  nolXoi^  all  agree  signifies  the  multitude,  or  man- 
kind. And  the  same  "  many  "  who  are  made  sinners 
by  the  disobedience  of  one,  are  made  righteous  by  the 
obedience  of  the  other.  Deny  that  all  will  be  made 
righteous,  and  you  deny  that  all  were  made  sinners. 
We  know  that  all  are  sinners,  and  by  the  same  author- 
ity we  know  that  all  will  be  made  righteous.  And  so 
the  witness  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  same  in  apostle 
and  prophet ;  for,  speaking  by  Isaiah,  it  says,  "  Look 
unto  me  ,and  be  ye  saved,  all  the  ends  of  the  earth  ; 
for  I  am  God,  and  there  is  none  else.  The  word  is 
gone  out  of  my  mouth  in  righteousness,  and  shall  not 
return,  that  unto  me  every  knee  shall  bow,  and  every 
tongue  shall  swear.  Surely  shall  one  say.  In  the  Lord 
have  I  righteousness  and  strength."  —  xlv. 

But  in  the  next  verse  the  argument  advances  a  step ; 
for  we  are  assured  that  "  where  sin  abounded,  grace 

8 


86  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

did  much  more  abounds  Now,  the  race  is  no  longei 
equal ;  grace  has  outrun  sin,  and  abounds  beyond  it. 
How  can  this  be  if  sin  is  endless  ?  If  sin  abounds 
through  all  eternity,  how  can  grace  abound  much  more 
than  this  ?  Can  it  be  more  than  endless  ?  Or,  if  sin 
extends  to  the  whole  human  race,  and  grace  extends 
only  to  a  part,  how  can  it  be  said  that  it  abounds  much 
more  ?  Is  not  the  opposite  true  in  that  case,  viz  :  that 
sin  abounds  much  more  than  grace  ?  One  thing  is 
certain;  if  this  doctrine  is  true,  the  passage  I  have 
quoted  is  false ;  and  if  the  passage  quoted  is  true,  the 
doctrine  of  endless  sin  is  false. 

And  the  same  idea  of  abounding  grace  is  embodied 
in  the  next  verse  :  "  That  as  sin  hath  reigned  unto 
death,  even  so  might  grace  reign  through  righteousness 
unto  eternal  life."  Mark  the  addition  of  "  eternal " 
before  "  life,"  so  making  the  antithesis  imperfect  for 
the  express  purpose  of  showing  that  grace  reaches  be- 
vond  sin,  and  the  "  eternal  life  "  beyond  death.  So 
full  and  complete  is  the  apostle's  argument ;  and  with- 
out comment  I  leave  it  to  the  judgment  and  candor  of 
the  hearer. 

2.  Romans  xi.  The  Jews  regarded  themselves  as 
the  especial  favorites  of  God,  to  the  exclusion  of  the 
Gentiles.  On  the  other  hand,  the  early  Gentile  con- 
certs, bringing  in  many  of  their  old  Pagan  notions 
with  them,  and  seeing  the  judgments  coming  on  the 
Jews,  began  to  boast  that  these  were  excluded  and  cast 


MR.  Thayer's  lecture.  87 

out  from  the  favor  of  God,  while  they,  the  Gentiles, 
were  received  into  their  place,  as  the  special  favorites 
of  heaven.  Accordingly,  regarding  the  Jews  as  the 
enemies  of  God,  they  treated  them  with  contempt, 
and  grew  intolerant  towards  them.  —  verses  11-24. 

Now,  Paul  takes  up  the  matter  at  this  point,  and 
endeavors  to  show  both  parties  that  they  were  in  error, 
and  that  the  gospel  plan  did  not  recognize  the  final 
exclusion  of  either,  but  embraced  the  salvation  of  both 
Jews  and  Gentiles.  "I  say,  then,  Have  they  (the  Jews) 
stumbled  that  they  should  fall  ?  ♦  God  forbid ;  but 
rather  through  their  fall  salvation  is  come  unto  the 
Gentiles,  for  to  provoke  them  to  jealousy.  Now,  if  the 
fall  of  them  be  the  riches  of  the  worlds  and  the  dimin- 
ishing of  them  the  riches  of  the  Gentiles,  how  much 
more  their  fulness  ?  " 

And  then  he  proceeds  to  show  that  this  unbelief  and 
blindness  of  the  Gentiles  is  only  for  a  season,  till  the 
purpose  of  God  is  complete.  "  For  I  would  not,  breth- 
ren, that  ye  should  be  ignorant  of  this  mystery,  (lest  ye 
should  be  wise  in  your  own  conceits,)  that  blindness  in 
part  is  happened  to  Israel,  until  the  fulness  of  the  Gen- 
tiles be  come  in.     And  so  all  Israel  shall  be  saved." 

The  argument  is  plain.  The  blindness  of  the  Jews 
is  in  part  only  —  some  have  already  believed  —  and 
the  unbelief  of  the  remainder  is  only  temporary,  to 
continue  till  the  multitude  of  the  nations  is  brought 
in  —  and  then  all  Israel  shall  be  saved,  together  with 
the  fulness  of  the  Gentiles. 


88  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

Then  he  repeats  it,  that  this  leaving  them  in  unbe- 
lief was  not  for  condemnation,  but  for  the  fulfilment 
of  the  plan  of  salvation,  which  placed  all  in  the  same 
relations  to  the  divine  mercy  :  "  For  God  hath  con- 
cluded them  all  in  unbelief."  Why  ?  "  That  he  might 
have  mercy  upon  all  I  " 

And  with  this  conclusion,  the  apostle  breaks  into 
the  triumphant  song  :  "  O,  the  depth  of  the  riches  both 
of  the  wisdom  and  the  knowledge  of  God !  how  un- 
searchable are  his  judgments,  and  his  ways  past  find- 
ing out  I  .  .  .  .  For  of  Him^  and  through  Him,  and 
TO  HIM  are  all  things  —  to  whom  be  glory  forever. 
Amen." 

8.  Revelations  v.  9-13.  Here  the  Revelator  gives 
us  the  song  of  glory  to  the  Lamb. 

Firsts  The  redeemed  "  out  of  every  kindred,  and 
tongue,  and  people,  and  nation,"  offer  up  their  praise  to 
him  who  had  made  them  kings  and  priests  unto  God. 

Second^  The  angels  join  in  the  song,  "  and  the  num- 
ber of  them  was  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand, 
and  thousands  of  thousands,  saying  with  a  loud  voice, 
Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that  was  slain  to  receive  power, 
and  riches,  and  wisdom,  and  strength,  and  honor,  and 
glory,  and  blessing." 

Thirds  and  finally,  the  whole  creation  takes  up  the 
hymn  of  triumph  :  "  And  every  creature  which  is  in 
heaven,  and  on  the  earth,  and  under  the  earth "  — 
surejy  this  is  comprehensive  enough  ?     No,  the  Reve- 


MR.    THAYER'S   LECTURE.  89 

lator  is  determined  to  make  it  strong  beyond  all 
doubt  — "  and  such  as  are  in  the  sea."  This  em- 
braces all,  certainly  ;  there  is  nothing  more  to  add  ? 
Yes,  not  satisfied  with  this  even,  he  piles  words  on 
words,  and  sentences  on  sentences  ;  not  satisfied  with 
all  in  heaven,  and  on  earth,  and  under  the  earth,  and 
in  the  sea,  he  repeats  again,  "  and  all  that  are  in  them, 
heard  I  saying,  Blessing,  and  honor,  and  glory,  and 
power,  be  unto  him  that  sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and 
unto  the  Lamb  forever  and  ever  I  " 

What  can  any  mortal  man  add  to  this  ?  What 
werds  or  phrases  can  be  invented  stronger  or  more 
thoroughly  comprehensive  and  universal  than  these 
dictated  by  the  Holy  Spirit  ?  And  this  is  the  gi-and 
consummation  of  the  Redeemer's  mission  —  universal 
holiness  and  blessedness,  to  the  glory  and  the  praise  of 
God  the  Father,  and  of  Ms  Son  Jesus  Christ  the  Savior  ! 

And  here  I  close.  This  is  my  answer  to  the  ques- 
tion with  which  I  began ;  and  I  believe  that  in  sub- 
stance it  will  be  accepted  by  those  with  whom  I  am 
denominationally  associated. 

Believing  this,  we,  with  the  apostle,  "  rejoice  with 
joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory,"  and  "  do  enter  into 
rest."  By  it  we  are  strengthened  in  the  time  of  temp- 
tation, and  we  are  comforted  in  our  sorrows.  And  we 
realise  in  our  hearts  the  words  of  the  apostle,  that 
"  God  is  the  Savior  of  all  men,  specially  of  those  that 


90  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

believe." — 1  Tim.  iv.  Believing  in  this  common  sal- 
vation of  all  men,  we  have  the  eternal  life  of  faith, 
and  enjoy  the  special  salvation  of  the  believer ;  being 
delivered  from  the  "  fear  which  hath  torment,"  because 
the  heart  is  filled  with  that  "  perfect  love  which  casteth 
out  all  fear."  —  1  John  iv. 

We  are  not  Universalists  because  we  love  God,  but 
we  love  God  because  we  are  Universalists  —  because 
we  believe  in  his  infinite  and  everlasting  goodness. 
Faith  precedes  love  and  produces  it.  It  is  the  cause 
of  which  love  is  the  effect.  Or,  as  the  apostle  says, 
"  We  love  him  because  he  first  loved  us."  —  1  John 
iv.  19. 

We  accept  all  things  from  God  in  faith,  never  doubt- 
ing but  that  he  orders  all  things  wisely  and  kindly.  If 
we  sin,  he  will  punish  us,  and  we  know  that  we  need 
the  correction,  and  we  never  pray  to  be  forgiven  this. 

We  expect  our  share  of  the  sorrows  and  sufferings 
of  life  —  we  accept  with  submission  the  discipline,- 
knowing  how  often  it  is  that  in  the  furnace  of  afflic- 
tion the  pure  gold  of  the  spirit  is  separated  from  the 
earthly  dross,  and  made  ready  to  receive  anew,  and 
forever,  the  image  and  superscription  of  God. 

And  when  death  comes,  we  walk  down  in  the  valley 
of  shadows,  knowing  that  we  shall  find  there  the  shin- 
ing footprints  of  the  Savior,  and  confident  that  in  due 
time  the  morning  light  of  the  resurrection  will  break 
upon  the  spirit,  and  we  shall  be  with  God  forever ! 


MR.    THAYER'S   LECTURE.  91 

Note.  —  The  following  statistics  will  show  the  reader  of  these  Lect- 
ures the  nominal  strength  of  the  Universalists  as  a  denomination,  in  this 
country.  One  United  States  Convention,  nineteen  State  Conventions, 
eighty  Ecclesiastical  Associations,  seven  State  Missionary  Societies,  three 
State  Tract,  three  State  Educational,  and  three  State  Sunday  School, 
Societies;  one  State  Relief  Fund  of  $12,000,  and  one  State  Book  and 
Puper  Establishment;  one  thousand  and  ninety-eight  Religious  Societies, 
nine  hundred  and  one  Houses  of  "Worship,  and  six  hundred  and  twenty- 
one  Ministers ;  two  Universities,  one  College,  one  Theological  School, 
ten  High  Schools,  and  eighteen  Periodicals. 

The  Unitarians  of  England,  generally,  if  not  universally,  avow  their 
faith  in  the  great  redemption.  In  Germany,  Dr.  Dwight  said  many 
years  ago,  that  "  the  doctrine  of  the  Eternity  of  Euture  Punishment  is 
almost  universally  rejected.  I  have  seen  but  one  person  in  Germany  who 
believed  it,  and  but  one  other  whose  mind  was  wavering  on  this  subject." 
—  Travels  in  the  North  of  Germany,  p.  421.  Dr.  Sprague  of  Albany,  in 
his  late  volume,  reports  the  celebrated  Dr.  Pinkerton  as  saying,  "  that  s^ 
large  part  of  the  good  people  of  Germany  believed  the  doctrine  of  Uni- 
versal Restoration,  though  they  were  rather  cautious  about  openly  avow- 
ing it."  —  European  Celebrities,  p.  103. 

I  might  add  many  more  facts,  showing  the  extent  to  which  the  doctrine 
of  the  final  restoration  has  made  its  way  into  the  hearts  of  the  people, 
and  helped  to  soften  or  remove  the  sterner  features  of  other  creeds, 
but  want  of  space  forbids. 


THIRD    LECTURE. 


REV.   JAMES   N.   SYKES, 


PASTOR    OF    THE    CENTKAL,     SQUARE    BAPTIST     CHURCH. 

■      93 


III. 

WHY  I  AM  A  BAPTIST. 


"  But  we  desike  to  hear  of  thee  what  thou  thinkest  :    for  as 
concerning  this  sect,  we  know  that  everywhere  it  is  spoken 

AGAINST."  — Acts  XXVIII.  22. 

We  cheerfully  accept  the  very  courteous  invitation 
which  you  have  given  us  to  appear  before  you,  and 
give  a  reason  for  our  Faith.  A  high  authority  binds 
this  upon  every  Christian  man,  to  be  always  ready  to 
give  to  every  man  that  asketh  him,  a  reason  of  the 
HOPE  that  is  in  him.  Faith  and  Hope  cannot  be  kept 
far  apart,  for  in  that  beautiful  triangle  of  graces,' 
Faith,  Hope,  Charity,  which  represents  the  perfec- 
tion of  the  whole  Christian  character,  faith  takes  the 
precedence  in  respect  to  time  ;  but  with  this  distinctly 
implied,  that  faith  is  to  be  completed  in  charity.  Hope, 
standing  between  the  two,  is  the  golden  clasp  that 
unites  earth  and  heaven.  We  liope^  that  in  stating  an 
outline  of  our  faith^  we  shall  not  violate  the  precept, 
"  let  all  your  things  be  done  with  charity.^''  Certainly 
no  feeling  of  admiration  stirs  in  our  bosom  towards 
that  man,  though  his  intellectual  Mght  were  brilliant  as 


96  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

a  noon-day  sun,  who  cannot,  with  a  tender  charity  to 
all,  and  without  acrimony  to  any,  state  the  points  of 
difference  between  them  and  him,  and  advocate  the 
gospel  as  he  has  received  it  from  God,  and  as  he  feels 
bound  by  his  love  to  God  and  to  man,  to  maintain  the 
truth  in  the  meekness  of  that  gospel. 

The  great  fault  of  our  polemic  theology  has  hitherto 
been,  that  it  has  been  baptized  in  the  Meribah,  where 
contending  sects  have  set  themselves  in  the  array  of 
battle,  all  heedless  of  that  great  primary  duty,  to  learn 
to  speak  the  truth  in  love  —  to  contend  for  truth  and 
not  for  victory.  God  is  tolerant  of  error  with  much 
long  suffering ;  but  erring,  ignorant  man,  is  naturally 
as  intolerant  to  the  errors  of  others,  as  he  is  indulgent 
to  his  own.  Hence  it  has  many  times  happened,  that 
when  buckling  on  his  Christian  armor,  he  has  passed 
unheeded  over  the  great  truth  that  the  weapons  of 
^Ur  warfare  are  not  carnal,  but  has  clothed  himself 
in  the  warrior-spirit,  and  fought  with  holy  truth  as  it 
had  been  the  un-holy  sword  or  spear.  I  state  not  these 
things  as  if  they  were  unknown  to  you,  but  only  to  in- 
form you  that  I  understand  the  peril  of  my  position, 
and  that,  forewarned  of  its  dangers,  it  is  both  my  pur- 
pose and  desire  to  avoid  them. 

I  am  encouraged  to  believe  that  this  error  will  be 
avoided  when  I  turn  my  attention  to  the  task  assigned 
me.  The  theme  directs  me  to«what  my  own  denom- 
ination receives  and  believes  to  be  the  truth  of  God, 


MR.    SYKES'    LECTURE.  97 

and  not  to  what  it  regards  the  errors  of  others  ;  to  set 
forth  the  doctrines  as  "  they  are  most  surely  believed 
among  us,"  not  to  ^ssail  those  that  are  upheld  by  oth- 
ers. If  any  are  sensitive  with  a  fear  that  self-defence 
necessarily  implies  a  hostile  attitude  towards  those  of 
opposite  opinions,  it  shall  be  my  endeavor  so  to  speak 
that  the  hostility  shall  be  contained  entirely  in  the  at- 
titude, and  not  be  allowed  either  to  creep  into  my 
words,  or  be  harbored  in  my  feelings. 

In  the  words  now  spoken,  I  have  indicated  the  blief 
and  significant  reply  to  the  question  which  I  am  before 
you  to  answer,  viz  :  Why,  from  love  to  God  and  man, 
are  you  a  Baptist  ?  Because,  with  the  best  light  which 
God  has  given  to  me,  I  believe  that  the  doctrines  taught 
in  the  Bible  have  essentially  an  organized  form  in  the 
Baptist  churches.  My  reason  on  this  general  question 
of  personal  faith,  doubtless  is  the  same  with  that  of  him 
who  preceded  me,  and  him  who  shall  succeed  me.  To 
be  a  Baptist,  or  anything  else,  except  an  Atheist,  from 
any  other  principle  than  that  of  a  reverent,  filial  love 
to  God,  which  contains  a  deference  to  his  authority  as 
supreme,  is  a  solecism.  In  this  part  of  our  faith  we 
all  agree.  Faith  is  not  an  article  of  commerce  —  a 
commodity  that  can  be  exchanged  at  pleasure.  So 
long  as  it  is  genuine,  it  is  invincible,  incorruptible,  and 
inexchangeable.  Gold  cannot  buy  it,  power  cannot 
crush  it,  position  cannot  alter  it. 

The  question  really  signifies,  why  are  you  a  Baptist 


98  PITTS-STREET    CHAPEL    LECTUR]^. 

rather  than  somebody  with  another  name.  In  othci 
words,  what  is  there  hi  the  sentiments  that  are  held 
under  that  name  to  which  you  feel  jthat  allegiance  and 
obedience  is  due,  as  to  the  service  and  authority  of 
God  ?  Certainly  I  would  not  be  a  Baptist  if  the 
evidence  were  furnished  me  that  another  segment  of 
Christ's  Church  embodied  just  as  purely,  the  Savior's 
ideal  of  the  church.  On  the  supposition  that  each  de- 
nomination has  an  equal  amount  of  truth  embodied  in 
it,  I  can  think  of  no  satisfactory  argument  why  more 
than  one  should  exist. 

I  cannot  persuade  myself  that  there  is  any  adequate 
remuneration  attainable  for  the  inconvenience  arising 
from  the  separation  of  small  communities  into  little 
fractions  of  societies,  each  tugging  and  struggling  to 
maintain  a  precarious  existence,  and  the  alienation 
that  has  come  from  this  partitionment,  except  it  be 
found  in  a  personal  consciousness  of  obedience  to 
God. 

It  will  be  seen,  then,  that  the  question  suggests 
another,  which  ought  first  to  be  answered. 

What  is  it  to  be  a  Baptist  ?  Do  not  regard  me  as 
cynical  if  I  complain  aloud,  and  say,  that  as  a  denom- 
ination we  seem  to  have  been  singularly  unfortunate 
in  not  having  made  ourselves  distinctly  understood  on 
the  most  vital  of  our  diflerences.  It  has  almost  never 
been  my  privilege  to  find  our  sentiments  correctly  rep- 
resented by  those  who  oppose  us.     Seldom  have  I  met 


99 

with  a  statement  of  our  leading  principles,  by  others, 
which  any  intelligent  Baptist  could  or  would  accept  as 
being  entitled  to  be  regarded  as  anything  better  than  a 
mere  parody,  and  as  often  bad  as  a  caricature.  Things 
incidental  are  placed  for  things  fundamental,  while 
principles  of  primary  importance  have  been  blinked 
altogether  out  of  sight.  Hence  the  extended  impres- 
sion that  we,  as  a  denomination,  are  ruled  by  the  ob- 
stinate prejudices  of  ignorance  rather  than  by  clearly 
drawn  and  sharply  defined  convictions  of  duty  created 
directly  by  the  word  of  God.  "Were  many  an  other- 
wise intelligent  man  in  this  community  to  be  asked 
the  very  question  now  before  me,  it  would  not  surprise 
me  at  all  to  hear  him  reply  that  the  Baptists  are  a  sect 
which  differs  from  others  around  them  mainly  in  these 
two  thipgs  ;  they  insist  upon  baptism  by  Immersion, 
and  they  do  not  baptize  infants  —  an  answer  which 
about  as  truly  describes  the  difference  between  us  and 
others,  as  if  to  the  question,  what  is  the  distinction  be- 
tween a  Monarchy  and  a  Republic,  the  names  of  Queen 
Victoria  and  President  Buchanan  should  be  given  as 
the  proper  answer.  Neither  of  them  woul4  be  accepted 
as  a  true  statement.  They  are  utterly  unworthy  of  us, 
and  lead  many  fair  and  liberal  minded  persons  to  look 
upon  us  as  a  herd  of  ignorant  and  superstitious  men, 
imposed  upon  by  the  unmeaning  sound  of  a  name, 
governed  by  the  childish  whim  of  a  peculiarly  self- 
denying  obedience  to  their  Lord,  and  liberal  only  in  hav- 


100  PlTTS-STEfiET- CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

ing  a  quantity  of  water  large  enough  to  be  soaked  in,  in 
consequence  of  which  they  feel  duly  authorized  to  say 
to  the  pious  and  saintly  men  of  other  communions, 
"  Stand  by  thyself,  for.  I  am  holier  than  thou"  —  a 
people  incapable  of  recognizing  anything  Christian  or 
commendable  outside  of  a  Baptist  Church. 

Great  faults  and  many  no  doubt  we  have,  but  not 
these  so  charged  upon  us.  Every  member  of  our 
churches  is  not  always  as  well  educated  as  we  could 
wish.  "  True  it  is  —  and  pity  'tis,  His  true,"  that  in- 
dividuals may  be  found  among  us  of  narrow,  illiberal 
minds,  who  may  in  their  own  case  have  sat  for  such  a 
portrait.  But  do  all  of  this  class  of  men  belong  to 
our  churches  ?  Will  any  other  communion  allow  it- 
self to  be  judged  by  the  corresponding  class  among 
them  ?  Let  me  do  this  and  I  need  not  ask  jpr  more 
time  than  to-morrow  to  blot  tlia  fair  fame  of  any  of 
the  leading  denominations  among  us,  however  worthy 
of  commendation  they  may  be.  But  this  w^ork  would 
be  alike  unamiable  and  unprofitable.  I  put  the  ques- 
tion to  any  man  among  you,  and  ask  if  you  are 
willing  to  adopt  such  a  representation  as  a  proper  and 
true  description  of  the  members  of  Baptist  churches 
within  the  circle  of  your  acquaintance  ?  Are  they 
below  the  average  intelligence  and  refinement  that 
pervades  the  conlmunities^wherein  they  reside.  As 
known  by  us  they  are  not  composed  exclusively  of  any 
one  class.     As   a  general  thing  they  are  not  of  the 


MR.    SYKES'   LECTURH.  101 

richest  nor  of  the  poorest  classes  of  society/  In  our 
own  State  are  nearly  ihirty-four  thousand,  connected 
with  two  hundred  and  fifty-nine  churches,  and  the 
number  of  those  who  agree  with  these  in  sentiment 
cannot  be  less  than  one  hundred  thousand.  Their 
relative  number  and  position  in  this  State  is  not  higher 
here  than  it  is  throughout  the  United  States,  in  every 
part  of  which  they  are  found,  in  almost  every  town 
and  village,  to  the  number  of  not  less  than  nine  hun- 
dred thousand ;  while  those  who  worship  with  them 
are,  by  a  wavering  estimate,  placed  at  from  five  to 
seven  millions.  To  them,  by  the  last  census  of  our 
country,  full  one  quarter  of  all  the  church  accom- 
modations in  our  land  belong.  If  it  sounds  a  little 
like  a  pompous  vanity  to  read  such  majestic  numbers, 
what  would  it  sound  like  —  if  one  individual,  of  no 
great  consequence  perhaps,  rising  up  against  them  all 
—  found  as  they  are  among  all  classes  —  the  low  and 
the  high — the  poor  and  the  rich  —  the  illiterate  and 
the  erudite  —  should  hurl  against  them  the  charge 
to  which  I  have  alluded?  Can  it  be  supposed  that 
such  and  so  many  persons  would  adhere  tenaciously 
to  merely  idle  and  nonsensical  whims  ?  There  must 
be  something  of  solid  principle  to  gain,  and  still  more 
so  to  retain,  with  religious  fidelity  to  their  principles, 
such  numbers  —  hundreds  and  thousands  of  whom  are 

better  qualified  to  speak  in  their  own  defence  than  the 
9* 


102  PITTS-STREET    CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

very  humble  individual  now  almost  accidentally  called 
upon  to  speak  for  them.  . 

In  stating  what  these  principles  are^  the  triangular 
appears  the  most  convenient  form.  It  has  at  least  this 
advantage,  that  it  is  significant  of  prerfection.  Our  en- 
tire doctrinal  and  practical  basis  comprehends  many 
truths,  which  we  share  in  common  with  those  churches 
popularly  called  evangelical,  and  in  wdiich  we  have 
always  agreed  with  them.  Some,  in  which  now  the 
religious  community  around  has  very  happily  come 
into  agreement  with  us,  and  which,  therefore,  cannot 
any  longer  be  claimed  exclusively  as  our  own.  Other 
some,  in  which  ive  neveY  have  been  able  to  agree 
with  any  other  church  organizations,  and  do  still 
disagree  with  them.  We  shall  observe  this  order 
throughout  this  discussion. 

There  is  a  broad  basis  of  fundamental  truths  on 
which  we  stand  in  the  same  company  with  at  least  six 
of  the  principal  denominations  in  our  country.  We 
have  no  such  self  conceit  as  would  set  ourselves  up  for 
the  defence  of  doctrines  in  which  so  many  and  so  able 
persons  have  at  least  an  equal  interest  and  responsi- 
bility with  ourselves  ;  and  we  aim  only  at  hinting  the 
outline  of  an  exposition  of  them. 

While  the  changed  aspect  of  the  religious  world 
would  persuade  us  that  a  different  form  of  expression 
would  be  preferable,  still,  without  sacrificing  any  prin- 


MK.    SYKES'    LKCTURPL  103 

ciple  of  our  common  faith  —  if  the  viii.,  xxiii.,  xxvii., 
and  xxxvi.  of  the  Thirty-nine  Articles  were  changed, 
we  could  accept  all  of  the  others.  So  if  the  Augsburg 
Confession  were  amended-  in  about  the  same  propor- 
tion, we  should  not  dissent  from  it.  With  still  fewer 
variations,  and  less  important,  we  could  accept  the 
Cambridge  Platform.  With  our  Unitarian  friends,  we 
certainly  should  insist  upon  the  essential  Unity  of 
God  —  but  not  so  as  to  reject  the  Trinitarian  doc- 
trine. We  place  no  stress  whatever  upon  the  numer- 
ical idea,  because  we  do  not  believe  that  God  can  be 
measured  by  any  human  arithmetic,  and  this  division 
belongs  rather  to  a  necessity  of  the  human  mind  than 
to  any  division  of  the  substance  of  the  Deity.  We 
do  not  uphold  any  such  theory  of  the  Divine  Nature 
as  that  which  would  distribute  it  into  three  minds  — 
three  wills  —  three  conscious  natures.  Our  language 
is  to  this  effect ;  "  God  has  revealed  himself  as  the 
Father  and  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Ghost  —  the  sayne 
in  respect  to  divine  essence,  whatever  distinclion 
there  may  be  in  some  respects."  We  do  not  "  under- 
take to  fathom  the  interior  being  of  God,  and  tell  how 
that  is  composed."  If  we  did,  we  are  in  no  worse 
position  than  are  others  who  object  to  our  statement, 
that  such  a  Being  is  inconceivable  to  their  minds.  If 
for  that  reason  the  Trinity  must  be  rejected,  for  the 
same  also  must  the  Unity  of  the  Divine  existence  be 
rejected;  for  in  that  form  He  is  equally  inconceivable. 


.104  riTTS-STREET    CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

"Who  art  thou  O  man  !  Canst  thou,  by  searching,  find 
out  God  ?  Canst  thou  find  out  the  Almighty  to  per- 
fection. It  is  high  as  heaven,  what  canst  thou  do  ? 
deeper  than  hell,  what  canst  thou  know?  The  meas- 
ure thereof  is  longer  than  the  earth,  and  broader 
than  the  sea."  A  God  that  could  be  conceived  by  the 
human  mind  must  be  finite  — that  is,  be  no  God. 
Unity  or  Trinity  alike  —  God  is  an  infinite  mystery. 
We  submit  to  the  language  of  revelation,  and  believe 
that  the  Three  are  united  in  one  glorious  Godliead, 
while  as  in  the  baptismal  formula  there  is  a  distinction 
made  between  them. 

Not  to  detain  you  too  long  upon  the  particular 
points  —  not  to  insist  that  there  shall  be  ''five  points" 
and  these  made  by  a  man's  hand  —  Calvin's  or  Full- 
er's, or  that  of  any  other,  —  or  be  expressed  in  one  par- 
ticular method,  —  for  Baptists  have  always  maintained, 
the  largest  liberty  in  thinking  for  themselves,  —  we 
will  glide  over  the  leading  doctrines,  simply  indicating 
the  line  of  our  proofs. 

Man's  nature  and  necessities  is  the  centre  around 
which  our  Theology  revolves.  Starting  with  him, 
we  have  to  do  with  a  depraved  nature.  We  do 
not  say  that  he  sins  and  then  becomes  depraved, 
which  would  be  simply  a  truism,  but  we  say  that 
there  is  a  something  in  his  inmost  life  which  makes 
sin  as  universally  an  attribute  of  humanity  as  is  intel- 
ligence or  the  possession  of  a  conscience ;    a  mora.1 


MR.   SYKES'   LECTURE.  105 

virus  infused  into  his  very  being,  that  as  clearly  distin- 
guishes between  aa  angelic  and  a  human  nature  as 
the  disposition  of  a  lamb  is  distinguished  from  that  of 
a  tiger.  We  guard  our  statement  here  for  the  thou- 
sandth ^time  from  a  misapprehension.  We  say  that 
this  virus  belongs  to  his  religious  nature^  and  not  so 
much  to  his  social  qualities  ;  that  it  leaves  him  with- 
out holiness  of  heart;  without  a  right  disposition 
towards  God ;  with  an  atheistic  nature  that  loves  to 
be  without  God  in  the  world.  It  says  nothing  about 
his  integrity  or  his  amiability,  any  more  than  it  de- 
scribes his  intellectual  and  physical  strength  or  weak- 
ness. 

If  this  be  our  true  condition,  then  regeneration  by 
»  superhuman  agency  becomes  a  great  necessity,  and 
men  must  be  born  again,  not  by  the  will  of  man  but 
of  God.  Eedemption  carries  along  with  it  the  idea 
of  vicariousness,  the  effect  of  which  is  salvation  by 
grace.  This  is  attained,  not  by  the  merit  of  human 
deeds,  but  by  the  justifying  righteousness  appropriated 
by  faith,  through  which  the  believer  is  kept  unto  the 
salvation  ready  to  be  revealed  in  the  last  time. 

These  form  a  distinct  basis  of  doctrines,  and  all  of 
them  must  stand  or  fall  together.  The  forms  of  ex- 
pression may  perhaps  be  improved  ;  but  the  substance 
of  these  must  remain.  Viewed  from  the  stand-point 
of  philosophy,  they  are  coherent,  and  we  are  not  sur- 


lOG  PITTS-STREET    CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

prised  to  hear  this  statement  from  one  like  Lord  Bo- 
lingbroke  :  "  Those  doctrines  are  certainly  doctrines 
of  the  Bible,  and  if  I  believe  the  Bible  I  must  believe 
them." 

While  these  are  so  received,  we  are  not  conscious 
of  any  diminution  of  motives  to  exert  every  particle 
of  moral  power  which  any  one  may  have.  Nor  do  we 
believe  that  this  view  places  any  sinner  in  a  discour- 
aged state,  as  if  he  could  do  nothing  whether  to  pro- 
mote or  retard  his  salvation.  On  the  contrary,  he  can 
do  whichever  he  pleases.  He  has  within  himself  all 
the  proper  conditions  of  accountability.  He  can  resist 
the  influences  of  the  Spirit,  and  he  can  seek  its  aid. 
Let  him  do  the  first,  or  fail  to  do  the  second,  and  his 
blood  is  on  his  own  head  ;  to  himself  clings,  an^ 
must  ever  cling,  all  the  guilt  of  his  own  ruin.  When- 
ever that  comes  it  is  a  final  ruin  ;  just  as  when  salva- 
tion secured  in  this  life  is  a  final  salvation.  If  heaven 
shall  ever  cease  to  be  the  portion  of  the  righteous,  then 
hell  —  its  unquenchable  fires  all  extinguished  —  will 
no  longer  be  the  portion  of  the  wicked.  That  law  of 
interpretation  which  destroys  one  must  affect  both,  and 
equally  ;  for  throughout  the  Bible  they  stand  on  the 
same  time-basis.  Our  moral  sentiments  have  nothing 
to  do  in  the  decision  of  a  question  of  this  sort.  God 
does  not  always  try  to  please  us,  nor  act  in  harmony 
with  our  moral  sentiments,  as  thousands  and  millions 


MR.    SYKES'    LECTURE.  107 

of  sufferers  can  tell.  He  acts  as  a  righteous  Governor, 
which  is  somewhat  different,  in  important^grespects, 
trom  a  Parent. 

Of  course  it  is  not  expected  that  I  should  argue  each 
of  these  doctrines.  The  proofs  fill  huge  volumes  of 
divinity,  and  no  skill  of  mine  can  pack  them  into  a 
single  discourse,  much  less  into  that  small  portion  of 
this  which  I  had  assigned  to  1J|is  topic. 

We  pass  now  to  those  principles  which,  in  our  ear- 
lier history,  placed  us  in  a  separate  and  peculiar  posi- 
tion, but  which  have  now  become  so  widely  diffused 
and  adopted,  that  they  are  no  longer  our  exclusive 
property. 

Lest  I  should  commit  both  injustice  and  folly,  let 
me  delay  long  enough  here  to  acknowledge  the  obliga- 
tions we  owe  to  others  around  us.  If  we  have  given  to 
others,  we  have  received  from  them.  If  we  have  taught 
them,  in  some  instances,  better  principles,  I  think  that 
whoever  reads  our  history  of  the  last  two  hundred 
years,  will  concede  that  they  have  taught  us  better 
manners.  Their  example  and  influence  have  elevated 
the  standard  of  learning  among  us,  and  their  liberality 
has  often  provoked  us  to  love  and  good  works.  We 
have  witnessed  their  order  in  the  house  of  God,  and 
their  steady  and  consistent  adherence  to  principle,  and 
we  have  copied  it  —  partially  at  least. 

We  claim  the  precedence  in  defending  and  estab- 
lishing the  following  principles  :  — 


108  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

The  popular  form  of  Church  Government  ivas  first 
restored^mong  us.  We  understand -it  to  be  the  teach- 
ing of  the  ablest  of  our  church  historians  that  a  hier- 
archy was  not  the  original  form  of  the  church.  This 
was  a  plant  of  slow  growth ;  but  in  the  gradual  prog- 
ress of  centuries  had  reached  such  gigantic  proportions 
that  in  the  Middle  Ages  it  brooded  in  one  dense 
shadow  over  all  Chri^endom.  The  leaders  in  the 
Reformation  scarcely  touched  the  fundamental  princi- 
ples of  church  government.  They  were  occupied  fully 
with  their  attacks  upon  the  Papacy,  and  a  most  im- 
portant part  of  their  work  was  left  incomplete. 

From  the  earliest  organization  into  churches,  both 
on  the  Continent  and  in  England,  the  Baptists  insisted 
that  all  the  members  of  the  household  of  faith  formed 
a  brotherhood,  and  stood  upon  the  footing  of  an  essen- 
tial quality.  So  they  claimed  to  be  taught  by  the 
Scriptures,  and  maintained  that  the  whole  body  was 
"  a  chosen  generation,  a  royal  priesthood,"  thus  exclud- 
ing the  idea  of  a  ruling  class.  They  believed,  indeed, 
that  God  had  distributed  various  gifts  for  the  edifica- 
tion of  the  church,  and  "  gave  some  apostles,  and  some 
prophets,  and  some  evangelists,  and  some  pastors  and 
teachers."  But  these  were  given  not  to  legislate  or  to 
rule.  They  might  guide  by  their  instructions,  but  had 
no  power  to  coerce  or  subject  to  their  authority.  Dr. 
Williams  correctly  states  the  sentiments,  not  less  of 
our  churches  now  than  those  of  the  sixteenth  centmy. 


MR.   SYKES'   LECTURE.  109 

when  he  says,  "  The  church  is  not  a  mere  nest  of  an- 
archy ;  nor  yet  is  it  a  scene  of  spiritual  despotism, 
where  a  Diotrephes  rules  in  the  pastorate,  or  an  oligar- 
chy in  the  deaconship  crushes  pastor  and  people  be- 
neath its  iron  rod."  They  constructed  their  churches 
on  the  plan  which  D'Aubigne  says  was  the  primitive 
one.  "  The  church  was  in  the  beginning  a  community 
of  brethren."  Like  some  other,  principles  revived  at  the 
Reformation,  this  idea  of  a  popular  and  independent 
form  of  church  government  was  compelled  to  pursue  a 
circuitous  and  obscure  path,  while  avoiding  the  malice 
and  tyranny  of  persecuting  hierarchies  ;  and  no  small 
obscurity  lies  upon  some  portions  of  its  earlier  history. 
This  was  to  have  been  expected.  Men  engaged  in  a 
death-struggle  for  principles  of  vital  importance  to  the 
faith  —  as  the  Baptists  certainly  were  —  and  who,  at 
a  date  as  early  as  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  had  to  seal 
their  testimony  with  their  blood  —  not  as  has  usually 
been  the  case,  by  solitary  individuals,  but  by  twenties 
and  thirties  at  a  time  —  had  more  important  work  to 
do  than  to  discuss  questions  of  mere  polity.  They 
gave  to  these  but  few  words,  wisely  preferring  to  shew 
their  faith  by  their  works,  and  constructed  such 
churches  as  they  had  the  opportunity  of  forming  on 
the  model  of  the  New  Testament.  They  performed 
this  work  half  a  century  before  Robert  Brown  planted 
the  principles  of  church  independence  on  the  soil  of 
Holland.    During  his  time  they  were  like  the  strangers 

10 


110  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

addressed  by  St.  Peter,  "  scattered  "  widely  throughout 
England  and  Germany  ;  and  wherever  found  would 
never  permit  Prince  or  Pontiff,  Council  or  Convention, 
to  interfere  with  the  discipline  or  government  of  the 
church.  Whom  they  would,  they  elected  to  the  pas- 
torate, without  the  permission  of  any  other  church  or 
body  of  men  ;  and  when  they  thought  proper  they  dis- 
solved that  relation  in  the  same  spirit  of  independence. 
Agreeing  in  the  fundamental  principles  of  church  order 
with  the  Brownists,  who  are  of  a  later  origin,  from 
whom  the  venerated  Pilgrim  Fathers  of  New  England 
descended,  they  with  a  more  steady  consistency  prac- 
tised upon  the  principles  of  a  pure  democracy. 

Self-government  in  the  church  unquestionably  origi- 
nated the  idea  of  self-government  in  the  State.  The 
church  taught  the  State  how  to  govern  and  exercise 
its  rights.  It  is  well  known  that  the  example  of  a 
Baptist  church,  settling  all  its  questions  by  the  vote 
of  the  majority,  yet  under  such  conditions  as  sacredly 
to  guard  the  rights  of  the  minority,  first  suggested  to 
the  constructive  mind  of  Thomas  Jefferson  —  years 
before  ^e  sketched  that  immortal  Declaration  —  the 
same  idea  that  was  inaugurated  in  the  formation  of 
this  Federal  Union.  His  own  words  on  this  subject 
are  that  he  "  considered  the  Baptist  Church  the  only 
true  democracy  then  existing  in  the  world,  and  had 
concluded  that  it  would  be  the  best  plan  for  the  gov- 
ernment of  these  American  Colonies."     That  idea  is 


MR.    SYKES'   LECTURE.  Ill 

closely  interwoven  into  the  whole  of  the  American 
mind.  It  has  become  the  ruling  idea  in  all  our  Eccle- 
siastical institutions.  The  monarchic  forms  must  re- 
tire before  it,  or  if  they  continue  to  exist,  one  of  the 
essential  conditions  of  their  continuance  must  be  that 
they  shall  learn  gracefully  and  as  in  meek  reverence  to 
submit. 

We  rejoice  to  yield  what  at  our  commencement  was 
our  distinct  peculiarity.  We  do  not  intend  by  any 
means  to  abdicate  the  principle  or  apostatize  from  the 
practice,  but  we  are  animated  by  the  thought  that 
while,  in  this  respect,  we  maintain  our  allegiance  to 
the  truth  of  Christ,  we  can  at  the  same  time  hold 
"  close  communion "  with  the  Christian  churches 
around  us. 

Another  point  of  restored  communication  between 
us  and  the  Christian  churches  around  us  relates  to  the 
nature  of  a  call  to  the  Christian  ministry. 

Once  it  was  peculiar  to  Baptist  churches  to  main- 
tain that  no  one  had  any  scriptural  right  —  which 
means  that  no  one  had  any  right  whatever  —  to  exer- 
cise the  functions  of  the  sacred  office,  excepting  those 
who  were  called  of  God,  as  Aaron  was.  They  insisted 
that  in  Boston  and  elsewhere,  in  these  last  days,  as  in 
Ephesus  and  everywhere  in  the  earliest  days  of  the 
church,  it  was  the  especial  prerogative  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  to  make  men  overseers  of  the  church ;  and  that 
there  was  still  in  His  hands  who  holds  all  power  in 


112  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

heaven  and  earthy  ability  to  make  His  will  known  to 
such  as  he  intended  should  preach  His  Gospel.  In 
this  view  they  were  opposed  practically  by  nearly  all 
of  the  churches  in  Christendom.  But  little  more  than 
a  century  ago  Whitefield.  stirred  up  a  great  storm  of 
wrath  here  in  New  England,  by  taking  the  same 
ground  with  them,  and  insisting  that  "  unconverted 
ministers  are  the  bane  of  the  Christian  church."  Gil- 
bert Tennent  was  denounced  as  an  unreasonable 
fanatic,  because  he  dared  to  preach  and  print  a  sermon 
"  On  the  Dangers  of  an  Unconverted  Ministry." 
Solomon  Stoddard,  in  his  day,  among  all  the  clergy 
in  New  England — a  son  of  Kish  that  towered  above 
them  all,  from  his  shoulders  and  upward  higher  than 
any  of  the  people  —  a  choice  man  and  a  goodly ;  yet 
even  Solomon  Stoddard,  in  his  "  Appeal  to  the 
Learned,"  assumes,  as  Mr.  Tracy  says,  "that  an  un- 
converted minister  is  bound  to  continue  in  the  per- 
formance of  ministerial  duties  "  !  He  labors  to  prove 
that  unconverted  men  may  be  admitted  into  the  min- 
istry. They  were  not  his  first  choice,  but  they  might 
be  chosen;  and  what  Solomon  Stoddard  —  tJie  Solo- 
mon of  Massachusetts  —  could  do,  a  great  many  of 
less  piety  and  learning  could  more  easily  do.  The 
Baptists  never  could. 

No  doubt  some  among  them,  in  the  fervor  of  their 
piety  and  zeal,  made  their  claims  in  reference  to  a  call 
to  the  ministry  appear  extravagant  and  ridiculous.     II- 


MR.   SYKES'  LECTURE.  113 

literate  men,  who  had  not  the  genius  of  Bunyan,  but 
who  had  the  same  glowing  love  of  the  Savior,  spoke 
from  their  own  experience,  and  when  their  words  ran 
like  a  spring  torrent  let  loose  from  the  snowy  moun- 
tains and  leaping  down  the  hills,  they  believed  them- 
selves supernaturally  helped,  and  laid  a  claim  in  con- 
sequence to  something  very  like  miraculous  inspira- 
tion. This  idea  became  popular.  Hence  their  super- 
stitious aversion  to  written  sermons,  and  their  con- 
tempt for  an  educated  ministry.  Hence  many  an  il- 
literate man  who  had  not  mastered  the  lore  of  Dil- 
worth's  spelling-book,  felt  sure  that  he  was  quali- 
fied to  teach  the  masters  in  Israel.  His  heart  could 
not  rest,  because  there  was  a  voice  from  above  con- 
stantly calling  him  to  leave  the  anvil,  or  plough,  or 
loom,  and  go  and  preach  the  preaching  of  which  he 
was  bidden  of  God.  Hence  came  the  proverb  res- 
pecting the  spoiling  of  a  good  deacon  to  make  a  poor 
minister.  But  the  error  was  quite  harmless,  and  had 
the  skill  —  which  many  a  skilful  physician  has  not  — 
to  cure  itself.  We  are  a  sobered,  and  I  fear  that  we 
are  becoming  a  tame  people.  Yet  we  bate  not  one  jot 
or  tittle  of  the  claim.  Indeed  we  need  not,  for,  so  far 
as  I  understand,  the  moral  sense  of  the  Christian  com- 
munity has  settled  down  into  a  substantial  agreement 
with  us. 

All  think  that  something  more  is  needed  to  make 
a  Christian  minister  than  a  talent  for  public  speaking, 

10* 


114  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

and  an  ability  to  talk  thirty  or  forty  minutes ;  some- 
thing more  than  the  drill  of  the  college  and  the  semi- 
nary can  give.  They  insist  not  only  upon  the  posses- 
sion of  piety  —  using  that  term  perhaps  in  somewhat 
different  senses,  according  to  the  particular  theology 
of  those  employing  it  —  but  they  demand  further  a 
distinct  specific  conviction  that  their  duty  lies  in  this 
direction,  and  not  in  another.  They  must  believe  that 
tlr^  would  sin  were  they  to  refuse  to  obey  that  con- 
viction. The  man  whose  views  are  so  peculiarly  ac- 
commodating, whose  impressions  of  dfPty  are  so  mild, 
that  he  could  just  as  readily,  were  an  opportunity  of- 
fered, do  something  else  than  preach,  the  serious  moral 
sentiments  of  the  community  would  bid  do  anything 
else  rather  than  preach. 

Under  the  general  head  of  accomplished  agreements, 
you  will  not  excuse  me  should  I  omit  that  distinctly 
Baptistic  idea.  Freedom  of  Conscience.  Not  very  long 
ago  it  was  charged  upon  us,  as  our  peculiar  sin,  that 
we  insisted  "  that  the  civil  power  has  no  right  to  make 
and  impose  ecclesiastical  laws."  Dr.  Soame,  in  1589, 
thought  such  a  heresy  ought  to  be  answered,  and  tried 
to  do  it.  The  great  Reformer  of  Scotland,  John 
Knox,  thought  that  it  did  not  deserve  any  other  an- 
swer than  by  the  sword,  and  declares  it  his  purpose 
"  to  lay  the  same  to  their  charge  if  he  should  appre- 
hend any  in  a  Commonwealth  where  justice  may  be 
ministered  against  blasphemers,  as  the  word  of  God 


MR.    SYKES'   LECTURE.  115 

requireth."  The  popular  sentiment  two  hundred 
years  ago  was  that  this  and  cognate  doctrines  made 
the  men  who  advocated  them  "  deserve  to  have  their 
heads  in  the  custody  of  young  Gregory,  to  make  but- 
tons for  hempen  loops."  The  wisest  men  could  not 
conceive  that  religion  could  survive  so  dangerous  a 
license  as  that  which  would  commit  every  man  to  the 
decisions  of  his  own  conscience  on  the  doctrines  of 
religion.  All  agreed  in  one  respect.  They  were  un- 
willing to  be  coerced.  They  believed  that  to  be  perse- 
cution ;  and  with  equal  unanimity  each  party  thought 
themselves  violently  wronged,  when  the  stronger  party 
attempted  to  control  their  consciences  with  their  fines 
and  punishments.  They  ought  to  be  let  alone,  not 
because  persecution  in  itself  was  wrong  and  always 
wrong,  but  because  their  doctrines  were  true,  a  plea 
made  always  by  every  party,  and  ^ually  available  to 
all.  They  sometimes  went  so  far  as  to  demand  toler- 
ation^ an  act  of  grace  which  no  man  was  ever  yet 
qualified  to  extend  to  any  other.  God  only  can  toler- 
ate. Every  man  is  just  as  much  tolerated  as  he  toler- 
ates, because  every  man  has  an  equal  right  to  the 
principles  which  he  cherishes  as  any  other  can  possi- 
bly have. 

This  is  the  principle  of  the  Baptist  denomination 
from  its  beginning  and  from  which  they  have  never 
swerved  so  much  as  a  hair's  breadth,  and  in  the  main- 
tenance of  which  they  have  never  vacillated.     To  the 


116  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

defence  of  this  we  ga^  to  England  her  first  and  her 
last  martyr,  and  if  the  cause  of  truth  shall  ever  require 
we  are  ready  to  add  others.  They  have  not  only 
maintained  that  others  had  no  right  to  coerce  their 
consciences,  but  they  have  insisted  that,  no  one  pos- 
esses  any  such  right,  and  any  attempt  to  control  the 
conscience  by  law  is  a  grand  impertinence ;  if  executed 
.it  is  a  gross  fraud.  Conscience  is  above  all  human  ju- 
risdiction. John  Locke  with  equal  justice,  candor  and 
truth,  says,  "the  Baptists  from  the  beginning  were 
the  friends  and  advocates  of  absolute  liberty — just 
and  true  liberty  —  equal  and  impartial  liberty."  His- 
tory confirms  that.  One  of  the  early  Baptist  churches 
of  England,  addressed  James  I.,  then  on  the  throne, 
in  these  words,  clearly  defining  their  principles  : 
"  We  do  unfeignedly  acknowledge  the  authority  of 
earthly  magistrate's,  God's  blessed  ordinance,  and 
that  all  earthly  rule  and  command  appertain  unto 
them ;  let  them  command  what  they  will,  we  must 
obey  them  either  to  do  or  suffer.  But  all  men  must 
let  God  alone  with  His  right  who  is  to  be  Lord  and 
Lawgiver  of   the  soul ;  and  not  command  obedience 

for    God   when    He    commandeth    none." 

"  Earthly  authority  belongs  to  earthly  kings,  but  spirit- 
ual authority  belongeth  to  that  spiritual  king,  who 
is  king  of  kings."  Oar  early  history  has  often  been 
alluded  to  as  one  of  rebellion,  as  the  wild  outburst  of 
the  mad  men  of  Miinster  against  the  peace  and  good 


MR.    SYKES'    LECTURE.  117 

order  of  society.  A  more  critical  acquaintance  with 
the  political  factions  of  Germany  separates  between 
the  true  Baptists  and  those  fanatics. 

Mr.  Bancroft  in  his  brilliant  eulogium  on  Roger 
Williams,  seems  to  attribute  to  liim  the  discovery  of 
a  truth  which  had  been  announced  long  before  he 
came  to  New  England,  before  he  took  orders  in  the 
English  church,  and  while  he  was  ranging  among  the 
hills  of  Wales,  a  mere  boy,  just  entering  his  teens. 
To  him  unquestionably  belongs  the  honor  of  being 
the  first  Christian  legislator  who  formally  recognized 
this  great  principle  in  the  establishment  and  adminis- 
tration of  any  government.  But  the  principle  on 
which  he  built  his  government  was  boldly  advocated, 
and  had  been  for  a  whole  generation,  by  all  the  Bap- 
tist churches  then  in  the  realm.  They  took  this 
ground,  while  even  their  much  loved  friend  and  fellow- 
sufferer,  the  excellent  Mr.  Robinson,  of  Leyden,  in  this 
respect  abiding  in  Papal  darkness,  w^as  earnestly  advo- 
cating the  duty  of  the  magistrate  "  to  punish  civilly 
religit)us  actions,"  and  maintaining  that  he  is  "  by  com- 
pulsion to  repress  public  and  notable  idolatry,  as  also 
to  provide  that  the  truth  of  God  in  his  ordinance  be 
taught  and  published ;  and  by  some  penalty  to  pro- 
voke his  subjects  universally  unto  hearing  for  their 
instruction  and  conversion,  —  yea  to  inflict  the  same 
upon  them  if  after  due  teaching  they  offer  not  them- 
selves unto  the  church^     He  ought  to  have  been  per- 


118  PITTS-STREET    CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

suaded  that  "  the  Lord  has  yet  more  truth  to  break 
forth  out  of  His  holy  word."  But  we  have  acquired 
only  tardily  the  right  to  blame  him,  after  having  re- 
tained almost  two  hundred  years  longer  on  our  Stat- 
ute-books a  law  which  taxed  men  for  the  support  of 
religion  in  opposition  to  their  consciences.  Thank 
God,  that  now  at  last  we  are  all  agreed  in  the  one 
great  principle  of  Religious  Freedom.  "  Whereto  we 
have  already  attained  let  us  walk  by  the  same  rule, 
let  us  mind  the  same  thing." 

We  have  in  our  progress  seen  a  gradual  approxima- 
tion of  diiferent  denominations  towards  each  other. 
Our  third  topic  brings  us  to  the  point  where  as  a 
denomination  we  diverge  from  all  those  around  us. 
Having  made  such  progress  in  the  things  already 
specified,  the  question  may  here  be  started,  why  not 
for  the  sake  of  peace,  and  to  diminish  the  existing 
differences,  dismiss  those  that  remain  and  come  to- 
gether into  one  family  and  live  in  mutual  harmony  ? 
It  does  not  require  any  special  grace,  that  I  can  con- 
ceive, to  make  one  willing  that  another  act  so  friendly 
a  part  as  to  adopt  his  principles.  Is  he  willing  to  re- 
ciprocate the  kindness  and  lay  the  same  tax  upon 
himself  that  he  imposes  on  others?  Can  he,  or 
can  I,  do  that  on  such  conditions,  if  we  are  conscien- 
tious Christian  men  ?  To  do  so  would  be  simply  to 
offend  God  for  the  sake  of  pleasing  man.  Not  only 
as  a  Baptist,  but  vastly  more  because  I  am  account- 


MR.    SYKES'   LECTURE.  119 

able  to  God,  I  cannot  consent  to  an  arrangement  on 
such  principles.  If  we  are  not  separated  by  our  inter- 
pretation and  application  of  the  truths  contained  in 
the  Bible,  embracing  principles  of  vital  importance  to 
the  well-being  of  the  church ;  if  Ave  could  surrender 
our  differences  without  damaging  what  we  believe  to 
be  the  word  of  God,  on  subjects  which  are  not  left 
open  to  accommodation ;  then  we  not  only  might  do  it, 
but  we  ought  to  do  it ;  we  are  becoming  guilty  of  the 
gin  of  schism  every  hour  by  not  doing  it.  But  if  it 
relate  to  a  matter  in  which  the  will  of  God  is  distinctly 
expressed,  then  we  had  better  do  anything  rather  than 
this ;  we  had  better  die  under  tortures  than  do  it.  We 
had  better  be  rejected  by  all  the  world  than  do  it. 
Here  on  this  point  I  could  willingly  lay  open  my 
whole  soul  before  the  religious  community  —  and  I 
believe  that  the  sentiment  of  the  denomination  would 
agree  with  mine. 

Were  there  nothing  concerned  in  this  question  more 
important  than  denominational  affinities  and  prefer- 
ences, arising  from  different  tastes,  produced  by  differ- 
ent modes  of  culture  or  of  association,  then,  in  my 
judgment,  none  of  these  could  offer  a  valid  defence 
for  the  distributions  of  the  church  of  Christ  into  sec- 
tions. When  manners  and  measures  only  are  con- 
cerned then  we  ought  to  be  accommodating  to  mutual 
differences.  Then  each  should  seek  "to  please  his 
neighbor  for  his  good  to  edification."     When  the  ques- 


120  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

tion  is  one  of  mere  forms  it  is  worse  than  idle  to 
wrangle  about  it.  A  Litm-gy  is  not  anything  desired 
by  me,  still  if  my  brother  can  worship  God  better  with 
its  aid,  I  cannot  oppose  him.  I  could  easily  waive  all 
differences  of  this  sort,  and  say  as  the  young  Quaker 
to  Whitefield,  "  Friend  George,  I  am  as  thou  art.  I 
am  for  bringing  all  to  the  life  and  power  of  the  ever- 
living  God,  and  therefore,  if  thou  wilt  not  quarrel  with 
me  about  my  hat,  I  will  not  quarrel  with  thee  about 
thy  gown." 

But  if  there  lie  in  the  way  to  this  a  necessity  for 
abdicating  the  truth  of  God,  carefully  and  prayerfully 
ascertained,  then  whoever  can  abandon  that  truth  is 
not  worthy  of  Christian  fellowship.  We  submit  to 
our  hearers,  that  if  we,  as  a  denomination,  with  our 
present  convictions  of  truth,  could  perform  an  act  so 
atheistic  as  to  set  aside  the  authority  of  God,  we 
should  deserve  to  be  disfellowshipped  by  every 
church  and  every  Christian.  Let  us  dare  to  do  that, 
and  in  our  practice  we  confound  the  eternal  distinction 
between  truth  and  error.  We  deal  with  truth  as  if  it 
were  error.  If,  with  the  sentiments  we  now  hold,  we 
could  make  up  our  minds  to  treat  on  terms  of  friend- 
ship with  certain  usages  which  have  long  had  a  corpo- 
rate existence,  and  ivhich  seem  to  us  to  subvert  funda- 
mental doctrines  of  the  gospel,  then  by  our  conduct, 
ivhich  is  the  true  voice  of  the  soul,  do  we  not  utter  these 
two  monstrous  sentiments?     Do  we  not  say  that  error 


MR.    SYKES'   LECTURE.  121 

IS  harmless  and  truth  loorthlessl  In  yielding  to  error, 
we  sacrifice  truth.  Let  that  be  done  —  organize  that 
sentiment  into  churches,  and  both  truth  and  religion 
must  speedily  take  their  flight  from  earth  to  the  heaven 
whence  they  came.  Before  any  one  takes  a  step  in 
that  direction,  it  were  well  to  reflect  more  carefully 
upon  this  subject.  I  am  of  very  little  consequence  to 
the  world.  Only  a  few  individuals  are.  But  every 
truth  of  God,  and  conversely  every  error  of  man,  is  of 
vast  consequence.  Our  lives  are  but  flitting  shadows 
and  will  soon  be  over.  If  our  errors  were  all  our 
own,  could  we  gather  them  up  and  carry  them  with 
us  out  of  the  world,  and  make  them  lie  down  in  the 
same  grave  with  us,  did  they  not  follow  us  beyond 
to  the  future  life,  then  were  it  of  small  consequence 
what  we  accept  as  truth,  or  reject  as  error.  But  it  is 
not  so.  We  are  the  channels  through  which  these 
must  flow  onwards  and  downwards,  and  perpetuate 
and  reproduce  themselves.  Doubtless  Bryant  spoke 
as  much  truth  as  poetry,  when  he  said, 

"  Truth  crushed  to  earth  will  rise  again, 

The  eternal  years  of  God  are  hers  ; 
But  error,  wounded,  writhes  iu  pain, 

And  dies  among  his  worshippers." 

But  O  !    the    dreary  march  of  desolation  by  which 

these  results  are  accomplished.     What  souls  may  be 

undone  and  forever  lost.     This  is  the  great  lesson  of 
u 


122  PITTS-STREET    CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

all  church  history  —  sad  and  sickening  to  every  be- 
nevolent heart.  That  man  is  little  to  be  envied  who 
will  willingly  repeat  any  part  of  the  lesson,  and  by  his 
conduct  consent  to  entail  this  descending  curse.  Be- 
cause we  cannot  consent  to  this  we  dissent  from  the 
views  held  by  those  churches  called  evangelical,  on 
these  three  points : 

First.   On  the  qualifications  for  membership. 

Second.   On  the  right  of  admission  to  membership. 

Third.  On  the  extent  of  the  ris^hts  to  the  Commu- 
nion  Table  of  communicants  belonging  to  different 
churches. 

Were  these  points  adjusted,  Ave  see  nothing  to  hin- 
der our  cordial  union  with  others. 

These  differences  I  have  stated  in  both  their  logical 
and  time-order.  This,  too,  is  the  order  of  their  im- 
portance;  the  first  being  greatest  in  our  own  estima- 
tion, although  this  does  not  seem  to  be  so  understood 
by  others.  With  us  the  great  question  is,  and  al- 
ways has  been,  what  sort  of  persons  are,  by  the  con- 
ditions laid  down  in  the  New  Testament,  eligible  to 
membership  in  the  church  ?  Some  say,  believers  and 
their  children.  Baptists  always  say,  believers  —  only 
those  who  in  the  judgment  of  a  Christian  charity  may 
be  regarded  as  such.  We  all  believe  in  "  experiencing 
religion,"  as  antecedent  to  any  profession  of  it.  We 
also  believe  that  this  must  be  a  conscious  experience. 
We  think  that   it   may  have  a  sudden  development, 


MR.    SYKES^    LECTURE.  123 

quick  as  that  of  the  Philippian  jailer,  or  gradual  as 
that  of  Zinzendorf;  but  whether  sudden  or  gradual^ 
that  it  is  always  the  operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit  upon 
the  heart.  In  our  past  history  we  have  laid  considera- 
ble stress  upon  such  a  consciousness  as  might  be 
noticed,  and  an  experience  to  which  a  date  might  be 
assigned ;  not  however  because  we  think  that  every 
one  must  pass  through  the  same  type  of  conviction,  or 
the  same  form  of  conversion,  but  because  more  fre- 
quently there  is  a  general  similarity  of  oulline.  We 
suppose  that  a  well-conducted  Christian  education 
tends  perceptibly  to  modify  the  form  of  individual 
conversions,  not  only  in  promoting  an  earlier  conver- 
sion, but  rendering  it,  to  use  the  emphatic  terms  of  Dr. 
Bushnell,  less  "  explosive,"  less  an  "  ictus  DeV  But 
in  wdiatever  mode  it  is  manifested,  we  insist  that  one 
must  be  born  again  or  he  cannot  enter  the  kingdom  of 
God ;  that  none  are  entitled  to  jom  the  visible,  who 
have  not,  by  grace,  become  members  of  the  invisible 
church.  The  adoption  of  any  other  term  of  member- 
ship seems  to  us  unwarranted  by  the  gospel,  and  full 
of  danger.  The  Scriptures  speak  of  no  other  sort  of 
members  than  believing  ones.  They  insist  upon  faith 
as  the  pre-requisite  of  baptism.  They  describe  the 
church  as  made  up  of  such  as  have  separated  them- 
selves from  the  world,  and  as  having  a  spiritual  fellow- 
ship with  God.  All  that  is  said  of  their  character, 
duties,   and   privileges,   seems  to   us  to   require  that 


124  PITTS-STREET  CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

change  of  which  I  have  spoken.  We  make  no  ac- 
count of  age,  or  the  circumstances  under  which  indi- 
viduals become  united  to  Christ.  They  may  be  vete- 
rans, "  silvered  o'er  with  age,"  or  they  may  be  little 
children.  They  may  come  singly,  or  come  in  house- 
holds ;  but  they  may  come  only  on  the  condition  that 
they  are  believers. 

We  can  no  more  conceive  of  a  middle  state  here 
between  the  church  and  the  world,  than  we  can  of  a 
middle  state  hereafter  between  Abraham's  bosom  and 
the  place  of  torment.  A  state  in  which  an  individual 
is  not  in  the  church,  and  not  out  of  it — a  member  and 
not  yet  a  member — is  to  us  a  contradiction  in  terms. 
How  any  one  can  receive  that  rite  by  which  alone  a 
profession  is  made,  and  not  yet  be  a  professor,  utterly 
perplexes  us.  Equally  difficult  is  it  for  us  to  discover 
why  one  who  has  thus  made  a  profession  should  not 
be  allowed  all  the  privileges  that  belong  to  it. 

We  wish  to  set  forth  our  sentiments  and  position 
distinctly  on  this  topic.  It  is  not  a  prejudice  against 
that  which,  out  of  courtesy  to  the  sentiments  of 
others  we  will  call  infant  baptism,  that  puts  us  in  the 
posture  of  opponents.  My  impression  is,  that  almost 
any  one  of  us  would  have  no  strenuous  opposition  to 
offer,  were  that  rite  to  be  held  up  simply  as  a  voluntary 
act  of  consecration  of  a  child  publicly  to  the  service 
of  God.  If  that  were  clearly  shown  to  afford  assist- 
ance to  the  parent  in  educating  it  for  God,  or  that  it 


125 

was  followed  by  such  moral  effects  that  it  secured  the 
subsequent  conversion,  or  had  any  appreciable  effect 
in  facilitating  that  important  end,  we  might  accede  to 
its  administration  on  that  ground.,  differing  as  it  does 
from  the  scriptural  representation,  which  never  speaks 
of  baptism  as  a  parental  duty,  but  only  as  a  personal 
duty.  But  we  can  discover  no  such  connection,  and 
there  is  to  us  an  entire  lack*  of  evidence  that  any 
moral  influence  whatever  is  exerted.  We  cannot  see 
that  the  unbaptized  children  of  parents  who  do  not 
believe  in  the  rite,  are  therefore  placed  in  any  more 
unfavorable  situation,  and  cannot  be  as  thoroughly 
educated,  and  thereby  brought  into  as  favorable  a  po- 
sition for  conversion  as  any  other.  Nor  do  we  see 
that  education  receives  any  additional  force  or  benefit 
from  it. 

But  here  is  our  greatest  difficulty.  The  ordinance 
is  set  before  and  enjoined  upon  us  as  of  divine  author- 
ity., and  so  enjoined  as  to  conflict  with  —  and  if 
it  were  fully  carried  out,  to  render  impossible  the 
baptism  of  every  believer,  unless  all  would  become 
Anabaptists  in  the  true  sense  of  that  term.  Every 
believer  is  commanded  by  the  Savior  to  be  baptized. 
But  this  rite  prevents  obedience  to  that  command.  It 
does  also  attempt  to  bind  the  conscience  as  being  of 
divine  institution.  It  would  seldom,  if  ever,  be  per- 
formed, except  as  an  act  of  obedience  to  God.     To  us 

it  is  altogether  wanting   that   authority.      The   lan- 
11* 


126  PITTS-STREET  CHAPEL  LECTURES.  « 

giiage  of  one  of  our  number,  as  recently  uttered,  is 
the  language  of  all.  "  It  is  a  mere  nullity  as  to  any 
relation  to  a  covenant.  In  that  respect  it  has  just  so 
much  validity  as  it  has  authority,  and  authority  from 
the  head  of  the  church,  it  has  none  at  all." 

Thus  speaking,  I  have  not  met  at  all  the  conditions 
implied  in  the  doctrine  of  baptismal  regeneration, 
partly  because  that  is  an  un-Protestant  doctrine,  and 
rejected  by  almost  the  whole  of  the  Protestant 
churches,  but  principally  because  its  basis  is  so  utterly 
diverse  from  that  on  which  we  have  been  discoursing, 
that  we  did  not  come  even  in  sight  ol  it.  Our  whole 
modes  of  reasoning,  of  feeling  and  of  expression,  are 
thoroughly  saturated  with  that  individualism  which 
brings  the  gospel  directly  to  each  person.  We  can 
hardly  appreciate  the  notion  that  describes  the  outward 
church  as  a  distinct  and  almost  separate  organism, 
having  a  life  of  its  own,  apart  from  the  individual 
members,  and  analogous  to  that  life-principle  in  the 
human  body  which  assimilates  foreign  substances  to 
itself.  Then,  were  this  a  reality^  the  rite  has  immense 
practical  importance  every  way.  It  is  the  medium  of 
contact  between  the  individual  and  the  Holy  Ghost, 
and  ordinarily,  to  say  the  least,  must  be  indispensable 
to  salvation.  But  we  reject  the  whole  system,  root 
and  branch,  as  utterly  of  Anti-christ.  The  faintest 
rudiments  of  it  do  not  manifest  themselves  to  us  in 
the  gospels.     As  we  read  them,  the  thought  is  of  fre- 


I 


MR.   SYKES^   LECTURE.  127 

quent  recurrence  that  one  must  be  in  Christ  by  a  spir- 
itual conception  before  he  becomes  a  member  of  his 
body,  the  church.  The  individual  is  he  tp  whom 
Christ  comes,  and  with  whom  he  takes  up  his  abode, 
and  makes  his  body  a  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

We  do  not  feel  under  a  necessity  to  enter  into  an 
extended  discussion  of  our  second  topic,  and  can  only 
hint  the  outline,  or,  perhaps  better,  the  direction  of  our 
argument.  We  maintain  that  Baptism  is  a  specific  and 
distinctly  defined  act,  and  that  any  other  action,  how- 
ever nearly  it  may  approach  to  this,  cannot  rightfully 
be  substituted  in  the  place  of  this.  We  reject,  as  en- 
tirely untrue,  the  idea  that  we  contend  for  one  mode  of 
baptism.  That  has  never  been  made  a  question  by  us, 
in  any  proper  scriptural  sense.  We  care  nothing  how 
a  baptism  is  performed,  whether  by  standing  or  kneel- 
ing, by  a  backward  or  by  a  forward  motion  ;  but,  only 
as  the  word  implies  itself,  that  it  be  a  baptism.  We 
come  to  the  consideration  of  the  rite,  with  this  simple 
inquiry  :  What  did  the  Savior  include  in  his  command 
to  baptize  ?  What  did  the  apostles  understand  by 
that  command  ?  On  the  literal,  primary  meaning  of 
the  word  there  can  now  hardly  be  said  to  be  any  disa- 
greement' among  scholars.  In  our  argument  it  has  al- 
ways been  Tertullian  against  Tertullian.  We  might 
detain  you  a  long  time  with  citations  from  authors 
whose  practice  seems  to  us  to  contradict  their  conces- 
sions, in  which  they  state  clearly  as  any  Baptist  can 


128  PITTS-STEEET  CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

ever  do,  that  the  primary  meaning  of  the  original  word 
is  to  immerse  ;  and  they  tell  us  that  this,  beyond  all 
question,  was  the  apostolic  practice.  They  say,  and 
we  agree  with  them  on  this  point,  that  the  word  has 
also  derived  meanings  which  do  not  involve  an  immer- 
sion. But  we  maintain  that  if  the  word  be  used  in  a 
tropical  sense  in  the  command  of  our  Savior,  then  it  is 
their  duty  to  prove  that ;  and  not  only  that,  but  also  to 
prove  which  of  the  several  tropical  meanings  which  it 
has  is  the  one  intended  by  our  Savior.  We  cannot 
believe  that  all  its  tropical  meanings  are  crowded  into 
one  enactment.  Indeed,  we  believe  that  there  is  no 
trope  in  the  case,  for  the  very  common  sense  reason 
stated  by  Ernesti,  "  that  laws,  history,  and  didactic 
works  seldom  admit  tropes."  And  again,  for  this  still 
stronger  reason  which  he  gives  in  these  words :  "  There 
can  be  no  certainty  at  all  in  respect  to  the  interpreta- 
tion of  any  passage,  unless  a  kind  of  necessity  com- 
pels us  to  affix  a  particular  sense  to  a  word  ;  which 
sense,  as  I  have  said  before,  must  be  One,  and  unless 
there  are  special  reasons  for  a  tropical  meaning,  it  7nust 
be  the  literal  sense."  Which,  then,  is  the  one  sense  ? 
Is  it  sprinkling  ?  No  one  claims  so  much  as  that.  No 
one  has  yet  accepted  the  challenge  of  Dr.  Carson,  and 
proved  that  the  word  used  in  the  New  Testament, 
(BaTTTiCrj,)  to  express  this  ordinance,  is  ever  used  to  sig- 
nify anything  less  than  immersion.  Not  one  of  the 
illustrations  which  they  have  quoted  as  having  anothei 


129 


meaning,  contains  the  word  which  is  always  employed 
to  designate  the  Christian  rite. 

The  same  answer  would  be  given  to  the  question, 
Does  it  always  mean  pouring  ?  All  reply,  no.  Is  it  im- 
mersion ?  Bretschneider  says,  "  An  entire  immersion 
belongs  to  the  nature  of  baptism."  The  modern  Greeks, 
who  read  the  ancient  text  as  fluently  as  the  modern, 


have  the  same  idea.  Arguing  against  some  ablution 
short  of  immersion,  one  of  them  says,  "  One  mode, 
therefore,  of  baptizing  we  learn  from  the  New  Testa- 
ment, that  by  immersion  ;  and  immersion  is  no  other 
than  an  entire  covering  by  means  of,  or  in,  water." 
"We  cannot  believe  that  three  acts  so  distinct  as 
sprinkling,  pouring,  and  immersing,  were  enacted  by 
the  Savior.  They  are  separate  rites,  and  one  or  the 
other  —  not  one  and  the  other" — was  enjoined.  Which 
of  them  was  specified,  distinctly,  primarily,  is  agreed 
in,  as  I  have  said,  by  all  of  distinguished  scholarship ; 
and  the  belief  of  that  can  hardly  be  said  to  constitute 
our  peculiarity,  which  rather  consists  in  this,  that  no 
man,  or  body  of  men,  have  any  right  to  change  the 
form  of  the  statute.  All  tradition  —  all  that  is  short 
of  the  Savior's  command  —  fails  to  persuade  us  that  a 
substitution  may  be  made.  We  must  adhere  to  that, 
not  because  we  might  judge  it  to  be  a  more  solemn 
and  impressive  rite,  but  just  because  it  is  commanded. 
W^e  might  prove  that  its  administration  is  attended 
with  inconvenience,  or  our  notions  of  propriety  might 


130  PITTS-STREET    CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

become  so  finical  that  it  should  seem  indecent.  But 
not  from  any  such  argument  could  we  devise  a  warrant 
to  neglect  it.  If,  instead  of  this  rite,  Christ  had  com- 
manded us  to  wear  a  specified  costume,  no  better  than 
that  we  now  wear,  and  perhaps  in  some  respects  more 
inconvenient,  on  his  authority  as  our  Lord  and  Mas- 
ter, we  would  do  it.  And  if  this  deference  to  his  word 
entitles  us  to  the  charge  of  bigotry,  then  we  accept 
that,  and  bind  it  as  a  frontlet  upon  our  brow,  and  will 
glory  in  wearing  it  to  the  grave. 

We  confess  that  in  one  of  the  aspects  of  this  sub- 
ject there  may  easily  arise  a  perplexity.  A  fair-minded 
man  may  ask,  why  this  exceeding  strenuousness  upon 
this  one  point  ?  Is  not  every  act  of  disobedience  to 
Christ,  in  any  one  particular,  a  trampling  upon  the 
same  authority  ?  Are  Baptists  so  much  distinguished 
above  all  others  for  conscientious  piety  ?  I  claim  no 
such  thing  for  them.  We  have  sat  reverently  on  the 
lowest  form  before  men  whom  we  could  name  —  an 
honored  and  a  saintly  list  —  who  were  in  Christ  before 
us.  We  honor  the  religious  decorum  that  prevails 
among,  and  the  large  benevolence  that  flows  in  an  un- 
tiring, copious  stream  from,  and  the  mercantile  probity 
that  grows  up  in  other  communions.  Then  why  this 
difference  ?  I  answer,  it  arises  from  its  different  rela- 
tions. It  is  one  thing  to  be  derelict  to  principle  in 
private  conduct,  and  quite  another,  and  a  worse,  to 
organize  a  corrupt  principle  into  an  institution,  and 


MR.    SYKES'   LECTURIi:.  131 

establish  it  for  all  time.  In  that  we  include  a  multi- 
tude. We  not  only  do  a  wrong,  but  we  corrupt  a 
doctrine,  and  thereby  we  teach  men  to  do  as  we  have 
done.  Place  any  other  act  on  this  ground,  and  if  any 
Baptist  refuses  to  treat  it  in  the  same  way,  brand  him 
as  recreant  to  his  principles.  Speaking  in  the  name 
of  the  Baptist  principle,  I  disown  and  denounce  him. 
Come  we  now  at  last  to  the  great  trial  of  our  faith 
—  the  question  of  Communion.  Perhaps  it  were  the 
true  philosophical  way  to  inquire,  as  preliminary  to 
all  discussion,  how  much  we  differ  from  those  around 
us.  Not,  as  I  think,  on  the  fundamental  principle  that 
the  Lord's  Supper  is  an  ordinance  instituted  ivithin  the 
churchy  and  designed  for  the  church,  and  to  be  cele- 
brated by  each  local  church  alone,  when  they  are  met 
together.  On  all  of  these  points  among  the  churches 
generally  there  can  scarcely  be  said  to  be  any  disagree- 
ment. It  was  not  designed  as  one  of  the  means  of 
grace  to  bring  men  to  Christ,  as  preaching  is,  but  for 
those  who  had  entered  into  the  church  by  baptism. 
We  do  not  find  a  single  instance  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment of  the  admittance  of  an  individual  to  the  Sup- 
per previous  to  baptism.  Whenever  any  order  is 
stated,  it  is  that  converts  were  baptized  and  after  that 
"  continued  in  the  apostles'  doctrine  and  fellowship 
and  in  breaking  of  bread."  This  order  has  been 
adopted  tlu'oughout  the  churches  of  all  denominations. 
In  the  Catholic  Church,  baptism,  "  by  which  persons 


132  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

are  made  children  of  God  and  washed  from  sin,"  is 
always  antecedent  to  confession,  confirmation  and 
communion.  So  in  the  Episcopal  Church,  "those 
only  that  by  baptism  have  been  grafted  into  the 
church "  are  treated  as  members  of  the  church.  The 
Presbyterian  symbols  declare  that  "baptism  is  a  sacra- 
ment for  the  solemn  admission  of  the  party  baptized 
into  the  church."  The  same  principle  is  contained  in 
the  Discipline  of  the  Methodist  Church,  in  these 
words:  "  Let  none  be  received  into  the  church  until  they 
have  met  on  tria]^  at  least  six  months,  and  have  been 
baptized."  The  idea  of  all  is  the  same  in  this  respect, 
that  only  by  submitting  to  the  rite  of  baptism  is  any 
one  entitled  to  the  privileges  of  the  church.  So  says 
the  Baptist,  and  refuses  the  Lord's  Supper  to  all  the 
unbaptized ;  pious  Quakers,  who  are  shut  out  from  all 
communions,  or  nearly  so ;  and  all  the  pious  who  lay  no 
claim  to  having  been  baptized ;  and  those  who  have 
taken  substitutes  for  baptism  ;  many  of  whom,  he 
maintains,  have  failed  by  not  doing  anything  to  indi- 
cate that  they  have  become  separate  from  the  world. 
They  do  not  so  much  as  claim  to  have  been  baptized 
on  profession  of  faith.  Our  principle  is  the  same  with 
that  of  other  churches.  Why  is  that  principle  which 
is  thought  valid  in  all  other  churches,  so  mischiev- 
ous and  unchristian  in  ours  ?  By  what  we  firmly  be- 
lieve is  an  incorrect  interpretation  of  the  law  of  bap- 
tism, more  persons  are  included  within  its  patronage, 


MR.    SYKES'    LECTURE.  133 

and  that  is  all  the  difference.  "We,  at  least,  are  no 
more  responsible  for  the  principle  than  are  all  others 
which  have  from  the  primitive  age  been  regulated 
by  it. 

While  this  is  all  true  in  reference  to  habitual  com- 
munion—  which  all  would  have  retained  within  the 
church,  the  question  is  asked,  why  always  insist  upon 
this  strict  interpretation  ?  When  individuals  be- 
longing to  various  denominations  are  together  in  one 
place,  why  not  together  occasionally  celebrate  the 
Lord's  Supper  ?  This  would  present  a  lovely  sight  to 
the  world,  and  would  obviate  those  objections  which 
arise  from  the  differences  among  Christians.  We  con- 
fess that  the  motive  assigned  is  not  to  us  particularly 
cogent.  We  are  far  from  the  belief  that  the  rejection 
of  the  gospel  comes  mainly,  or  in  any  perceptible  de- 
gree, from  this  cause.  Let  all  Christians  in  this  city 
unite  on  the  next  Sabbath  in  such  a  celebration,  and 
we  should  have  not  one  infidel  the  less  among  us. 
This  would  gratify  the  sentimentalism  of  certain  in- 
dividuals, but  would  not  settle  any  disputes.  The  real 
trouble  is  with  Christians,  not  those  who  know  noth- 
ing of  the  true  [kolvuvIo)  fellowship.  Why  not  then  re- 
move these  obstructions,  so  far  as  to  allow  of  occasion- 
al communion  ?  Because  we  can  make  no  distinction 
in  the  principle  between  the  occasional  and  the  perma- 
nent. We  believe  that  "  exceptions  should  bend  to 
general  rules,   and   not  general  rules  to  exceptions." 

12 


134  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

Believing  as  we  do  that  it  is  a  church  ordinance,  there 
is  a  manifest  inconsistency  in  an  act  extending  church 
fellowship  to  one  in  such  a  condition,  that  we  cannot, 
while  he  remains  in  that  condition,  hold  the  church  re- 
lation with  him. 

We  make  a  broad  distinction  between  church  fel- 
lowship and  Christian  fellowship.  To  enjoy  and  to 
augment  this  last  belongs  to  each  Christian,  irrespec- 
tiv.e  of  names.  This  depends  on  the  employment  of 
no  external  symbols.  It  springs  up  spontaneously 
wherever  real  Christians  become  acquainted  with  each 
other,  and  is  entirely  independent  of  church  organiza- 
tions. 

How  then  ?  Are  we  always  to  be  separate  ? 
Are  we  never  "  to  come  in  the  unity  of  the  faith  ?  " 
None  have  a  deeper  interest  in  this  question  than  we. 
Our  separation  comes  not  from  insensibility  or  indif- 
ference. Beautiful  indeed  is  the  long-delayed  vision 
of  a  unified  church.  I  wish  that  1  could  agree  with 
you  all  on  all  the  great  questions  of  religion.  I  wish 
that  an  occasion  had  never  existed  for  the  delivery  of 
a  series  of  discourses  like  that  now  engaging  your 
attention,  and  yet  I  rejoice  in  my  heart  of  hearts  at  the 
magnanimity  that  conceived  the  plan,  and  the  liber- 
ality which  has  conducted  it  to  the  present  stage. 
God  forgive,  if  I  have  said  one  word  inconsistent  with 
Christian  charity,  or  framed  a  sentence  so  as  to  wound 
any  true  Christian  sensibility.     We  would  not  exag- 


MR.    SYKES'   LECTURE.  135 

gerate  difTerences.  Our  liearts  yearn  as  do  yours  for 
that  day  when  all  God's  watchmen  shall  see  eye  to 
eye  —  when  all  Christians  shall  be  one,  "  even  as  the 
Father  and  the  Son  are  one."  But  we  do  not  expect 
that  this  will  be  brought  about  by  the  vote  of  majori- 
ties any  more  than  it  will  be  by  the  cant  of  sectarians 
denouncing  sectarianism.  The  evil  is  too  great  to  be 
cured  by  words.  Unity  can  only  come  by  the  progress 
of  truth.  God's  laws,  that  regulate  the  spiritual  and 
the  material  universe,  are  alike  in  this.  Each  law  is 
one  everywhere.  Whoever  maintains  the  truth  in  a 
Christian  spirit,  is  promoting  the  ultimate  union  of  the 
church.  Every  one  who  searches  for  and  obeys  the 
truth  —  every  one  who  labors  to  become  pure  in  heart 
promotes  the  union  of  the  church.  The  great  hin- 
drance now  is  the  want  of  a  perfect,  holy  life.  I 
cannot  believe  that  the  human  mind  is  so  made  that 
diversity  of  religious  beliefs  is  a  necessity,  any  more 
than  a  contrariety  of  mathematical  axioms  is  a  neces- 
sity. We  do  not  need  different  systems  of  astronomy 
to  adapt  themselves  to  the  human  mind.  Why  then 
as  we  step  beyond  the  stars  and  speak  of  heavenly 
things,  do  we  require  diverse  systems  of  theology? 
When  the  world  has  attained  to  that  purity  which  will 
contemplate  the  truths  of  religion  as  impartially  as  it 
comes  to  study  the  phenomena  of  Nature,  we  may 
hope  that  our  party  lines  will  completely  fade  away. 
To  this  end  we  have  only  to  cherish  the  life  that  Christ 


136  PITTS-STREET  CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

imparts.  The  law  of  life  always  works  towards  a  "uni- 
form result.  We  do  not  need  to  instruct,  or  guide,  oi 
attempt  in  any  way  to  force  the  acorn  to  conform  to 
any  mould  or  pattern,  or  to  deck  itself  with  a  par- 
ticular shade  of  color.  Leave  it  to  the  tuition  of  that 
law  of  life  wrapped  up  in  it  in  the  dawn  of  the  second 
day  of  the  creation,  which  has  not  yet  spent  one 
particle  of  its  original  force,  and  it  will  develop  the 
majestic  oak,  strong  and  sound  to  the  very  heart. 
Its  form  may  vary.  It  may  have  fewer  or  more  leaves 
and  branches.  It  may  be  twisted  and  deformed  with 
nodosities,  but  through  all  variations,  it  remains  unmis- 
takably the  oak.  So  let  the  law  of  Christ  Jesus  de- 
velop itself  in  the  human  soul,  and  only  one  kind  of 
beings  will  come  of  that.  There  may  then  be  diversi- 
ties in  developments,  in  taste,  in  knowledge,  but  the 
redeemed  will  differ  only  as  one  star  differeth  from  an- 
other star  —  IN  GLORY.  They  will  all  be  Christians, 
sound  and  strong  to  the  very  heart.     Amen. 


FOURTH    LECTURE 


REY.    NEIIEMIAH   ADAMS,   D.D. 


PASTOR  OF  THE  ESSEX  STREET  CH  U  R  C  H 


137 


IV. 

WHY   AM   I   A    TRINITARIAN    CONGREGATIONALIST  ? 


"  For  I  DETERMINED   NOT  TO  KNOW  ANYTHING  AMONG  YOU,  SAVE  JeSUS 

Christ,  and  him  crucified."  —  1  Cor.  ii.  2. 

The  question  to  be  answered  in  this  discourse,  is, 
"  Why  am  I,  from  love  to  God  and  man,  a  Trinita- 
rian CONGREGATIONALIST  ?  " 

Christianity,  no  doubt,  began  with  one  form  of  church 
government,  and  one  system  of  ordinances;  for  the  same 
reason  that  it  had,  of  course,  a  definite  system  of  funda- 
mental truths.  Some  of  our  modern  Christian  missions 
among  a  heathen  or  pagan  people,  probably  afford  a 
good  illustration  of  the  beginning  and  early  progress 
of  Christianity.  The  missionaries  are  at  first  neces- 
sarily the  controlling  power  in  the  churches,  which  they 
gather,  while  they  are  constantly  aiming  at  the  prepar- 
ation of  the  native  converts  to  supply  their  churches 
with  native  pastors,  and  to  transact  their  own  affairs 
independently  of  foreign  aid,  except  so  far  as  they  may 
associate  themselves  as  churches,  for  mutual  counsel, 
yet  without  jurisdiction.  But  the  missionaries  thence- 
forth cease  to  exercise  any  official   influence.      This 

139 


140    ^  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

seems  to  us  the  natural  order  in  which  the  first  Chris- 
tian churches  arose,  each  of  them  containing  within 
itself  the  elements  of  government  and  discipline. 

In  the  first  chapter  of  the  Acts,  we  find  the  body  of 
the  disciples  choosing  even  an  apostle,  to  supply  the 
place  of  Judas.  This  is  fatal,  we  think,  to 'all  claim 
of  apostolical  succession  in  the  ministry ;  for,  if  the 
apostles  had  not  power  even  to  fill  a  vacancy  in  their 
own  number,  the  right  of  appointing  ministers  was  not 
peculiar  to  them.  In  the  sixth  chapter  of  the  Acts, 
"  the  multitude  of  the  disciples"  also  "chose  deacons." 
Some  of  them  preached ;  but  this  was  wholly  inde- 
pendent of  the  object  for  which  they  were  chosen ;  be- 
cause in  giving  the  reason  for  the  appointment  of  dea- 
cons, the  apostles  drew  a  distinction  between  "  the 
ministry  of  the  word,"  and  "  serving  tables."*  Thus 
in  the  Christian  church,  at  the  very  beginning,  the 
people,  and  not  the  apostles  and  ministry,  were  the 
appointing  power. 

When  local  churches  were  established,  the  disciples 
no  longer  acted  in  one  body,  as  they  did  at  first  in  Je- 
rusalem. Paul  writes  "to  the  church  at  Corinth" 
respecting  the  discipline,  by  the  church  itself,  of  an  in- 
cestuous member.  He  speaks  of  "  the  churches,"  not 
of  "  the  church,"  of  Macedonia,  Galatia,  and  Judea. 
As  an  inspired  apostle,  he  felt  at  liberty  to  exhort, 
rebuke,  a»d  teach  the  churches  which  he  had  founded, 

*■  Acts  VI.  2,  4. 


DR.   ADAMS'    LECTURE.  141 

while  each  of  them  was,  nevertheless,  a  self-governing 
body.  The  Savior,  also,  directed  his  messages  in  the 
Revelation,  to  local  "churches"  —  not  to  the  "  Church 
of  Asia,"  but  to  the  separate  bodies  of  believers  in 
different  places,  each  of  them  having  a  separate  exist- 
ence, with  an  individual  character  and  history,  for 
which  it  was  approved  or  blamed.  This  congrega- 
tional form  of  church  organization  we  believe  to  have 
been  the  original  divine  pattern ;  the  apostles,  like  the 
first  missionaries  to  a  people,  having  had  no  successors 
in  their  peculiar  relation,  but  the  pastor  and  the  church- 
officers  of  each  body  of  believers  taking  their  place. 
This  is  the  impression  which  the  New  Testament 
makes  upon  us,  and  this  is  the  origin  of  our  Congre- 
gational order. 

The  theory  of  some  is,  that  the  order  of  apostles,  as 
distinguished  from  the  rest  of  the  ministry,  was  designed 
to  be  perpetually  represented  in  the  Christian  church  by 
"  bishops."  But  we  are  expressly  told,  that  the  differ- 
ence between  the  apostles  and  other  ministers  was 
this  :  The  apostles  were  inspired  witnesses  of  Christ* 
Therefore  Peter  moved  the  disciples  to  fill  the  place  of 
Judas,  saying,  "  Wherefore  of  these  men  which  have 
companied  with  us  all  the  time  that  the  Lord  Jesus 
went  in  and  out  among  us  —  beginning  from  the  bap- 
tism of  John  unto  the  same  day  that  he  was  taken  up 

=««=Act8  I.,  21,  22. 


142  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

from  us  —  must  one  be  ordained  to  he  a  ivitness  ivith  us 
of  his  resurrection^^  *  Paul  vmdicates  his  claim  to  the 
apostleship,  by  saying,  "  Have  I  not  seen  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord  ?  "  this  being  equivalent  to  the  evidence  which 
the  other  apostles  had  had,  that  Christ  was  risen. 
Therefore,  all  who  claim  to  be  successors  of  the  apos- 
tles, are  indeed,  like  Paul,  "  born  out  of  due  season," 
but  with  no  miracle,  as  he  had,  to  atone  for  it.  Their 
assumption  that  the  apostles  transmitted  their  office, 
is  singularly  confuted  by  some  of  their  own  writers 
when  assailing  the  Papacy.  Dr.  Barrow,  in  his 
"  Pope's  Supremacy,"  says,  ^'  Such  an  office  [the  apos- 
tolic] was  not  designed  to  continue  by  derivation^ 
Again :  "  Neither  did  the  apostles  pretend  to  commu- 
nicate it."  jHe  quotes  Bellarmine,  who  says  :  "  And 
the  bishops  have  no  part  of  the  true  apostolic  author- 
ity." t  It  is  also  conceded  by  writers  on  Episcopacy, 
that " the  terms  ' bishop,'  and ' elder,'  or  'presbyter,'  were, 
in  the  first  instance,  and  for  a  short  period,  sometimes 
used  synonymously,  and  indiscriminately  applied  to 
the  same  order  in  the  ministry."  J  "  The  name  bishop, 
which  now  designates  the  highest  grade  of  the  minis- 
try, is  not  appropriate  to  that  office  in  Scripture.  That 
name  is  given  to  presbyters  or  elders."  §     "  The  best 

1^  Acts  1  :  21-22. 

t  Quoted  in  "  View  of  Congregationalism,  by  George  Punchard,"  pp. 
77,  78.     This  book  cannot  be  too  strongly  recommended. 

X  Waddington's  Hist,  of  the  Church,  ch.  ii.,  §  2.     "  View  of  C."  p.  97 
4  Onderdonk's  Episcopacy  Tested,  p.  12.  Do.    .    do. 


rm.   ADAMS'   LECTURE.  143 

commentators,  ancient  and  modern,  have  with  reason 
inferred  that  the  terms,  [elder  and  bishop,]  as  yet  de- 
noted the  same  thing."* 

Thus  we  find  Congregationalism  at  the  pure  foun- 
tain head  of  Christianity.  The  first  Christians  began 
to  conduct  their  affairs  as  a  body  of  modern  Congre- 
gationalists  would  do.  If,  at  a  subsequent  time,  the 
churches  adopted  different  methods  and  rules,  they  de- 
parted from  the  original  pattern.  We  base  our  form 
of  church  government  on  the  very  first  acts  of  the 
Christian  church  after  the  ascension  of  Christ. 

We  do  not  find  in  Christ,  and  the  apostles,  and 
deacons,  that  model  of  three  orders  in  the  ministry  the 
want  of  which,  in  the  view  of  some,  disfranchises  the 
ministry  of  all  Christendom  except  that. of  one  denom- 
ination. For,  if  Christ  was  the  great  archetype  of 
"Bishops,"  who  among  the  apostles  took  his  place 
when  he  died  ?  and  who,  at  any  time,  was  his  first 
successor  ?  That  deacons  were  not  a  clerical  order 
has  already  been  proved  by  the  distinction  which  the 
apostles  expressly  made  between  the  employment  of 
deacons  and  "the  ministry  of  the  word."  And  the 
same  arguments  by  which  "three  orders"  would  be 
proved  to  be  essential  in  the  Christian  ministry  could 
be  used  to  prove  that  others  were  necessary:  —  "for 
He  gave  some,  prophets,  —  and  some,  evangelists." 

*  Bloomficld's  note  on  Acts  XX.  17.  —  See  Punchard's  View  of  Con- 
gregationalism, p.  97. 


144  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTTURES. 

Many  expressions  might  be  cited  from  the  great 
Apostle  to  the  Gentiles  which  manifestly  show  that 
he  was  jealous  for  the  liberty  with  which  Christ  had 
made  his  followers  free  from  every  yoke  of  bondage. 
Some  of  the  half  converted  Jews  sought  to  impose 
certain  rites  and  ceremonies,  and  the  observance  of 
vlays,  upon  them.  Paul,  writing  to  the  Galatians, 
and  others,  seems  to  have  been  indignant  at  this,  and 
it  was  because  Peter  '  used  dissimulation '  on  this 
subject  that  Paul  '  withstood  him  because  he  was  to 
be  blamed.' 

I  forbear  to  put  to  sea,  even  coastwise,  on  the  dark 
waters  of  ecclesiastical  history.  I  have  thus  far  con- 
fined myself  to  the  New  Testament.  My  own  belief, 
— for  the  reasons  named,  and  others  might  be  given  if 
this  service  allowed  a  fall  statement  of  them  rather 
than  an  outline,  —  is,  that  the  original  model  of  Chris- 
tian churches  was  one  which  secured  to  each  body  of 
believers  the  control  of  its  own  government  and  in- 
struction. If  this  be  granted,  we  are  not  careful  to 
ascertain  infallibly  by  what  servants  every  church 
managed  its  affairs ;  but  at  the  same  time  we  do  think 
that  such  officers  as  a  Congregational  Church  now 
employs,  and  such  only,  are  in  the  highest  measure 
consonant  with  the  possession  and  exercise  by  the 
body  of  believers,  of  liberty  and  self  control.  Yet 
it  would  violate  this  beautiful  and  noble  idea  of  inde- 
pendency, to    maintain    that   even    a    Congregational 


DR.    ADAMS'    LECTURE.  145 

Church,  ill  the  first  century  or  now,  could  not  institute, 
for  the  time  being,  an  order  of  helpers  in  addition  to 
those  originally  designated.  Let  the  habits  or  preju- 
dices of  a  people,  for  example,  make  it  inexpedient  for 
men  to  visit  the  sick,  indiscriminately,  for  charitable 
purposes;  the  same  necessity  which  suggested  the  idea 
of  deacons,  might  make  an  order  of  deaconesses  pro- 
per ;  and  so  we  think  the  chm'ches  occasionally  provid- 
ed themselves  with  new  internal  arrangements,  for 
religious  purposes.  Local  circumstances,  having  their 
origin,  if  you  please  to  call  it  so,  in  human  frailties, 
soon  led  to  discrepancies  and  divisions  ;  and  moreover, 
things  which  were  adopted  temporarily  at  first,  began 
to  claim  divine  authority,  and  fastened  themselves  to 
the  church  as  a  part  of  itself. 

We  believe  the  Congregational  form  of  church  order 
to  be  the  most  favorable  to  the  interests  of  the  indi- 
vidual and  of  religion  at  large.  Most  if  not  all  the 
objections  to  it  lie  equally  against  the  preparedness 
or  the  capacity  of  men  for  self  government;  but  to 
educate  them  for  this,  they  must  have  responsibility 
laid  upon  them  at  the  earliest  possible  moment,  even 
at  the  risk  of  serious  temporary  mistakes.  We  hold 
that  all  who  are  capable  of  managing  their  own  tem- 
poral concerns,  and  are  qualified  for  admission  to  the 
Christian^  church,  ought  to  have  the  entire  control  of 
their  ecclesiastical  affairs,  and  that  the  exercise  of  such 
control  is  one  of  the  best  means  to  develope  private 

13 


146  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

character,  and  to  give  early  vigor  and  stability  to 
Christian  institutions.  Thomas  Jefferson  said  that  a 
little  Baptist  Church  near  his  house  in  Virginia,  which 
was  governed  on  Congregational  principles,  was  proba- 
bly the  only  form  of  pure  democracy  which  then  exist- 
ed in  the  world.  The  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  enjoys 
the  right,  derived  from  Him,  and  the  ability,  to  use  this 
form  of  government ;  which  none  of  the  princes  of  this 
world  think  it  safe  nor  convenient  for  men  to  have  in 
national  affairs.  We  are  in  favor  of  this  system  as  en- 
abling each  church  to  settle  its  own  business  and  its 
difficulties  within  its  own  walls,  or  at  the  furthest,  by 
consulting  only  a  few  neighbor  churches,  instead  of 
agitating  the  whole  body  of  churches  in  a  section  of 
the  country,  or  being  compelled  to  seek  judicial  de- 
cisions from  the  whole  ministry  when  a  few  neighbor- 
ing pastors  and  Christian  brethren  are  as  well  able  to 
issue  them.  We  all  have  our  difficult  questions,  cases 
of  discipline,  and,  now  and  then,  contentions ;  but  that 
system  of  drainage  is  the  best  which  conducts  offensive 
things  quietly  beneath  the  surface,  instead  of  spreading 
them  for  inspection  and  judgment  over  a  large  district 
on  their  way  to  oblivion. 

Such  ministers  as  Cotton,  Wilson,  Hooker,  Stone, 
Davenport,  and  others,  beneficed  clergymen  in  Eng- 
land, having  fled  from  an  established  religion,  and 
from  what  they  deemed  a  yoke  of  bondage  in  religious 
forms  and  ordinances,  devised  a  system  between  Inde- 


147 

pendency,  which  is  the  present  Baptist  form  of  Con- 
gregationalism, on  the  one  hand,  and  Fresbyterianism 
on  the  other.  This  was  New  England  Congregation- 
alism. It  had  a  powerful  reflex  influence  on  the  Puri- 
tans in  the  mother  country,  till,  in  the  time  of  Crom- 
well, and  under  his  protection,  Congregationalism,  or, 
as  it  was  still  called.  Independency,  made  great  progress, 
and  at  the  present  day  it  is  an  important  and  hopeful 
religious  element  in  England,  under  the  name  of  Con- 
gregationalism, where  we  cannot  but  think  it  is  des- 
tined to  accomplish  a  great  work.  Let  us  not  be  un- 
derstood as  maintaining  the  idea  that  a  modern  Con- 
gregational Church  is,  in  all  respects,  the  exact  copy 
of  a  primitive.  Christian  church ;  all  we  claim  is,  that 
in  our  fundamental  idea  of  self-government  we  retain 
the  primitive  type ;  and  moreover  we  say,  that  what- 
ever offices  in  a  church  impair  the  direct,  immediate 
control,  by  a  church,  of  its  own  affairs,  did  not  exist 
in  the  first  Christian  churches,  and  they  are  repudiated 
now  by  Congregationalism.  It  differs  from  Episcopa- 
cy and  from  Episcopal  Methodism,  in  confining  the 
whole  power  of  control  within  itself.  It  also  differs 
from  Methodism  as  to  the  system  of  individual  account- 
ability, which,  in  the  Methodist  communion,  with 
its  class-leaders  reporting  weekly  to  the  minister  the 
circumstances,  more  or  less  minutely,  of  each  individ- 
ual in  the  church,  constitutes  an  authority  from  which, 
ff-'T  many  reasons,  we  prefer  to  be  free.     It  differs  from 


148  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

Presbytei'ianism,  is  that  the  whole  body  of  the  church, 
and  not  a  delegated  part  of  it,  transacts  its  affairs ;  and 
also,  in  not  being  accountable  to  extraneous  authority, 
such  as  Presbytery,  Synod,  and  General  Assembly.  It 
differs  from  Independency,  or  Baptist  Congregational- 
ism, in  that  it  recognizes  a  relationship  on  the  part  of 
each  church,  to  sister  churches,  in  the  way  of  counsel 
and  mutual  admonition,  without  the  least  subjection 
to  foreign  control,  however;  each  church,  in  the  last  re- 
sort, having  liberty  to  be,  in  every  sense.  Independent. 
Now  in  this  particular  feature  of  Congregationalism, 
as  distinguished  from  the  Independency  of  the  Baptist 
churches,  we  have  scriptural  examples.  The  first 
churches  interchanged  special  acts  of  fellowship ;  they 
found  it  needful  and  profitable,  and  it  was  natural  and 
pleasant,  so  to  do.  It  was  one  of  the  expedient  and 
useful  tilings  suggested  by  the  social  nature  of  our 
religion.  "We  read,  for  example,  of  "  the  brother  "  who 
was  "  chosen  of  the  churches  "  to  travel  with  their  con- 
tributions ;  and,  also,  of  these  brethren,  the  messengers 
of  the  churches.^ 

We  believe  in  the  parity  of  the  clergy.  We  find 
no  foundation  in  the  word  of  God  for  official  prece- 
dence among  ministers  of  the  gospel.  While  ordina- 
tion is  necessary  to  constitute  a  man  a  minister,  for 
the  same  reasons  that  the  marriage  ceremony  is  neces- 

=*^M  Cor.  viiT.,  18-23. 


DR.    ADAMS'    LECTURE.  149 

sary  to  complete  a  marriage  contract,  and  while  min- 
isters'alone  can  properly  perform  the  public  services  of 
ordaining,  we  believe  that  "  mutual  election  is  that  , 
which  doth  essentiate  the  relation  of  a  pastor  to  this 
or  that  particular  church."*  We  hold  that  churches, 
upon  conference  by  their  pastors  and  delegates,  have 
the  power  to  place  men  in  the  ministry  as  evangelists, 
or  without  pastoral  charge.  .We  believe  that  there  is 
no  office  of  "  priests  "  in  the  Christian  church. 

It  is  a  fundamental  principle  with  us  that  the  whole 
church,  and  not  merely  the  pastor,  nor  a  delegated 
body,  shall  have  entire  control  in  the  admission  and 
exclusion  of  members.  This  we  think  essential  to  the 
interests  of  religious  liberty,  a  safeguard  against  cler- 
ical assumption,  and  against  oligarchy.  We  are  very 
strenuous  for  this  principle,  for  with  a  great  sum  we 
purchased  this  freedom.  It  was  for  this,  and  for  the 
associated  right  of  electing  our  own  religious  teach- 
ers, and  to  be  emancipated  from  the  dictation  of  civil 
and  ecclesiastical  rulers,  that  we  came  out  of  great 
tribulation,  the  Puritans  seeking  refuge  in  Geneva, 
and  in  Holland,  and  finally  in  this  waste  howling  wil- 
derness. 

The  Pilgrim  Fathers  of  New  England  were  Con- 
gregationalists ;  the  Mayflower  was  a  Congrega- 
tional Bethel ;  Plymouth  Rock  was  at  first  the  corner 

*  Increase  Mathers'  Sermon,  at  the  ordination  of  Kev.  Mr.  Applcton, 
Cambridge.     See  Cong.  Diet.,  p.  264. 
13*  . 


150  PITTS  STREET   CIIxVPEL    LECTURES. 

stone  of  a  Congregational  church.  It  was  the  bring- 
ing  of  Congregationalism  here  which  gave  an  origin 
and  early  history  to  New  England  such  as  no  other 
nation  but  the  Hebrew  has  enjoyed. 

As  to  the  ordering  of  public  worsrhip,  we  prefer  ex- 
temporaneous prayers,  and  passages  of  Scripture  se- 
lected for  the  occasion,  to  the  use  of  forms  however 
unexceptionable  or  excellent.  The  power  of  adapta- 
tion to  passing  circumstances  and  frames  of  mind,  the 
agreeable  effect  of  variety  in  extemporaneous  services, 
and  the  prominence  thereby  given  to  the  preaching  of 
the  Gospel  by  enabling  us  to  make  the  other  parts  of 
the  service  promote  the  effect  of  that  great,  divinely- 
appointed  means  of  salvation,  lead  us  to  prefer  our 
mode  of  worship  to  liturgical  forms. 

We  believe  that  all  modes  of  Baptism  are  valid. 
But  we  believe  that,  in  some  cases  mentioned  in  the 
New  Testament,  immersion  was  impossible,  and 
moreover  that  there  is  no  case  in  which  the  probabili- 
ties are  not  on  the  side  of  some  form  of  affusion. 
This  mode  is  consonant  with  the  liberal  and  pliant 
nature  of  Christianity,  which,  if  immersion  alone  were 
valid,  could  not  bestow  its  great  initiating  rite  on  the 
sick,  on  prisoners,  on  people  at  sea,  in  desert  places, 
and  in  latitudes  of  extreme  frost. 

"We  believe  that  children  are  connected  with  their 
believing  parents  in  the  covenant  promises  of  God,  and 
that  Baptism  is  given  to  them  by  God  as  his  seal  of 


DR.    ADAMS'    I>ECTUIIE.  151 

that  covenant,  —  it  being  not  our  act,  primarily,  and 
not  merely  signifying  consecration,  but  it  is  the  act  of 
(tocI,  sealing  his  promise  and  constituting  a  memorial 
on  his  part,  and  on  the  part  of  the  parents  and  child. 
The  connection  of  children  with  their  parents,  for  good 
or  ill,  we  see  to  be  as  old  as  the  parental  and  filial 
relations. 

It  was  specially  recognised  at  the  call,  of  Abraham 
to  be  the  founder  of  the  church  of  believers  in  all  ages 
of  the  world.  A  special  re-appointment  by  Christ  of 
this  covenant  relation,  and  the  use  of  the  initiating 
seal  for  the  time  being,  we  suppose  would  have  been 
as  superfluous,  as  would  have  been  the  re-publication 
by  Christ  of  the  commandment  to  keep  holy  one 
seventh  part  of  time.  The«raention  of  the  baptism  of 
households  by  the  apostles  falls  in  naturally  with  our 
belief  and  confirms  it. 

Nov/,  upon  such  things  as  these,  relating  to  rites  and 
forms,  evangelical  Christians  difier,  and  separate  into 
sects,  each  of  them,  however,  professing  to  be  animated 
by  a  higher  motive  than  to  promote  its  own  peculiari- 
ties ;  but  being  persuaded  that  the  conversion  of  the 
world  to  God,  through  -the  propitiation  for  sin,  can  best 
be  efiected,  so  far  as  they  are  concerned,  by  their  being 
respectively  employed  under  their  several  forms  of 
church  order. 

That  Congregationalism  is  perfectly  adapted  to  the 


152-  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL  LECTURES. 

highest  state  of  human  society,  and  is  an  adequate 
means  to  bring  society  into  that  state,  we  see  in  the 
early  history  of  New  England,  its  schools,  colleges, 
churches,  ministry,  benevolent  associations,  the  arts 
and  sciences,  and  all  that  makes  life  happy.  "  The 
gold  of  that  land  is  good ;  there  is  bdellium  and  the 
onyx  stone."  God  brought  the  puritans  here,  and  has 
wrought  out  by  means  of  them  the  problem  of  man's 
capacity  for  self  government  in  religion.  If  any  in- 
quire, what  is  the  moral  and  religious  influence  of 
Congregationalism  compared  with  other  systems,  we 
have  only  to  mention,  Neiv  England,  where  it  has  had 
its  perfect  work.  With  that  result  we  are  so  far  satis- 
fied that  we  are  willing  to  see  rising  communities,  in 
our  own  and  other  lands,»make  trial  of  this  system. 
Our  New  England  Congregational  Churches,  with  their 
fruits,  stand  before  the  world  as  an  illustration  of  the 
practicability  and  safety  of  entrusting  religious  author- 
ity in  the  hands  of  the  people  themselves.  We  have 
less  than  two  thousand  Congregational  Churches  in 
the  whole  United  States,  including  both  Trinitarian 
and  Unitarian  Congre^ationalists,  the  latter  having 
about  three  hundred  churches,  while  the  Presbyterians 
have  four  thousand  churches,  the  Regular  Baptists 
eight  thousand,  and  the  Methodists  twelve  thousand. 
If  it  be  said  that  if  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  had  happened 
to  be  of  any  other  denomination.  New  England  might 
have  been  all  which  it  now  is,  we  answer,  It  wa''  in 


DR.    ADAMS'    LECTURE.       *  153 

order  to  be  Congrega+^''^i^^ lists  that  they  came  here , 
Congregationalism  brought  them  here;  it  formed  their 
institutions.  It  was  because  they  lived  on  the  pulse 
and  water  of  Congregationalism  that  tliey  thrived 
more  than  all  they  which  did  eat  of  the  king's  meat. 
Congregationalism  as  illustrated  by  them,  stands  ready 
to  be  adopted  by  other  communities  as  fast  as- circum- 
stances call  for  it.  Our  numerical  disproportion  ought 
to  prevent  us  from  adopting  the  narrow  minded  delu- 
sion that  we  are  anything  more  than  an  important 
element  in  a  great  system  of  human  society,  while  w^e 
cannot  but  feel  grateful  that  God  has,  by  these  New^ 
England  institutions,  demonstrated  the  inherent  excel- 
lence of  the  Congregational  system. 

Having  alluded  to  the  reasons  why  we  differ  from 
the  Episcopalians,  and  also  from  the  Independency  of 
the  Baptists,  and  from  the  latter  also  wath  respect  to 
the  mode  and  subjects  of  baptism,  I  will  briefly  allude 
to  the  discrepancies  of  faith  between  us  and  the  Meth- 
odists, though  in  doing  so  I  depart  a  little  from  the  plan 
which  I  have  proposed  in  the  discourse,  viz  :  to  speak 
of  doctrinal  subjects  last,  and  by  themselves.  But  for 
the  sake  of  finishing  the  subject  of  denominational  dif- 
ferences of  opinion,  I  will  venture  to  refer,  here,  to  the 
chief  articles  of  faith  in  which  the  Methodists  and  the 
Congregationalists,  the  Arminian  and  the  Calvinist, 
do  not  agree. 

Our  Methodist  brethren  sometimes  call  us  "  partial- 


154  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

ists,"  because,  as  Congregationalists,  Baptists,  and, 
to  so  great  a  degree.  Episcopalians,  we  believe  in  the 
infinite  grace  of  God,  determining  to  make  willing  and 
to  save  some  of  our  fallen  race,  all  of  whom,  if  left  to 
themselves,  would  have  perished.  The  Methodist  does 
not  see  how  this  belief  allows  liberty  to  man,  and  how 
it  is  consistent  with  offering  salvation  fully  and  freely 
to  every  human  being.  These  offers,  however,  we  all 
make  as  much  as  they ;  as  our  English  Baptist  brother, 
Andrew  Fuller,  whose  system  of  divinity  is  esteemed 
by  us  second  only  to  that  of  Jonathan  Edwards,  has 
shown  for  us  in  his  Treatise  on  the  Freeness  of  the 
Gospel. 

We  believe  in  the  foreordination  of  every  thing 
which  ever  comes  to  pass,  even  the  actions  of  men  and 
angels,  and  thus  we  rejoice  that  we  have  a  God  whose 
perfect  administration  can  never  be  disturbed  by  any 
contingency,  or  by  an  event  so  small  as  not  to  have 
been  contemplated  and  pre-arranged.  While  we  be- 
lieve this,  we  are  not  fatalists  ;  for  we  are  equally 
strenuous  in  our  belief  that  the  fore-knowledge  of 
God,  and  his  perfect  control  of  his  creatures,  are  not 
his  misfortune,  incapacitating  him  from  having  a  moral 
government ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  that  men  are  as  re- 
sponsible and  accountable  as  though  there  were  no 
divine  foreknowledge.  If  we  are  asked  how  we  recon- 
cile such  contradictory  propositions,  we  answer,  They 
do  not  fall  out,,  and  so  we  have  no  need  to  reconcile 


DR.   ADAMS'   LECTURE.  155 

them.  They  live  together  peaceably  in  our  hearts, 
except  when  any  are  disposed  to  provoke  them  against 
each  other.  As  our  Methodist  brethren  accept  the  two 
classes  of  truths,  relating  to  the  human  and  the  divine 
natures  of  Christ,  and  heed  no  upbraiding  for  incon- 
sistency, so  we  accept  the  parallel  truths  of  man's  free 
agency  and  of  sovereign  grace,  both  as  to  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Christian  life,  and  perseverance  in  it  to  the 
end;  and  we  do  not  undertake  to  explain  how  the 
two  things  are  consistent  with  each  other.  When  we 
read  the  very  severe  strictures  of  those  great  and  good 
men,  the  Wesleys,  against  our  belief  on  these  points, 
and  wonder  that  they  could  not  have  seen  how  scrip- 
tural and  how  profitable  they  are,  we  perceive  some- 
thing of  the  depths  in  the  divine  wisdom  in  allowing 
these  mighty  men  some  p^nts  of  divergence  from  us, 
in  order  that  they  might  become  what  they  have  been 
in  England,  and  elsewhere,  a  great  stimulant  force  in 
Christendom.  They  are,  in  some  respects,  the  flying 
artillery  in  the  sacramental  host.  What  denomination 
can  show  greater  exploits,  more  versatile  service,  and 
larger  conquests  ?  Let  them  dilTer  from  us,  and  go, 
like  Nahum's  chariots,  through  the  west,  and  over  the 
earth  ;  we  shall  follow  them,  (where  we  do  not  pre- 
cede them,)  and  by  our  diversified  influence  fill  up  that 
which  is  behind  in  them,  for  the  elect's  sake,  which  is 
the  Church. 

Kow  good  it  is  now  to  leave  these  things  in  which 


156  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES.. 

evangelical  Christians  differ,  and  lift  our  eyes  to 
heaven,  as  the  Methodist  Whitefieid  did  in  one  of  his 
sermons,  when  he  appealed  to  Abraham  by  name  to 
know  whether  he  had  any  Presbyterians,  Baptists, 
Methodists,  Episcopalians,  or  Congregationalists  in 
heaven,  and  being  answered,  No,  and  asking,  Whom 
have  you  there,  the  reply  was.  Christians. 

We  are  not  yet  in  heaven,  however,  but  in  a  world 
where  we  all  "  see  as  through  a  glass  darkly."  There- 
fore we  must  endeavor  to  serve  God,  and  persuade  men, 
by  recommending  that  form  of  Christianity  which 
appears  to  us,  respectively,  most  accordant  with  scrip- 
ture ;  at  the  same  time  remembering,  that  men  as 
good  and  conscientious  as  we,  who  receive  the  one 
great  essential  truth  of  salvation  by  faith  in  Christ,  feel 
persuaded  that  they  also  are  substantially  right  in  their 
modes  and  forms  ;  and  we  know  that  God  sets  the  seal 
of  his  blessing  upon  their  labors.  This  should  temper 
our  sectarianism.  Let  us  also  be  magnanimous  and 
forbearing  toward  any  who  may  assume  that  they 
alone,  of  all  protestants,  have  the  true  church,  and  the 
true  ministry,  and  the  true  forms  of  worship,  and  the 
sacraments  in  their  purity  and  validity ;  and  that  all 
other  denominations  are  schismatics,  whose  duty  and 
safety  require  them  to  return  at  once  into  the  one  true 
fold. 

There  are  maladies  which  lead  some  to  reason  them- 
selves into  the  belief  that  they  are  kings,  and  queens, 


DR.    ADAMS'   LECTURE.  157 

or  peers  of  the  realm.  The  church  of  God  is,  in  some 
sense,  a  hospital,  in  which  we  are  all  under  treatment 
for  our  eij;ors  and  follies.  We  can  learn  patience  and 
toleration  one  toward  another,  as  we  see  how  sad  is 
the  delusion  which  makes  some  think  that  they  only, 
of  all  the  members  of  Christ's  family,  are  sitting  on  his 
right  hand  and  on  his  left  hand  in  his  kingdom.  That 
sinful  woman  at  the  well  of  Samaria  is  a  type  of  every 
prelatical  church,  which  insists  thai  in  their  mountain 
we  must  worship  the  father.  The  reproof  and  instruc- 
tion which  she  received  from  Christ,  some,  who  are, 
nevertheless,  we  doubt  not,  Christians,  are  slow  to  un- 
derstand. 

And  who  are  Christians  ?  Christians,  according  to 
an  Apostolic  definition,  are  "  those  who  in  every  place 
call  on  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord,  both  theirs 
and  ours."  If  a  man 'wishes  to  know  what  he  must 
do  to  be  saved,  and  goes  to  a  Baptist,  Methodist, 
Episcopalian,  or  Congregationalist  minister  or  Chris- 
tian, they  will  each  tell  him,  for  substance,  that  which 
will  lead  him  to  pay  divine  honors  to  Jesus  Christ. 
If  he  kneels  in  prayer  with  them,  they  will  pray  to 
Jesus  Christ  as  the  Savior  of  the  world.  Let  him  sing 
with  them,  and  they  will  use  hymns  in  accordance 
with  that  new  song  which  is  sung  before  the  throne. 
This  is  what  we  believe  to  be  meant  by  calling  on  the 
name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  both  theirs  and  ours. 
It  is  rendering  divine  worship  to   Jesus  Christ  as  the 

14 


168  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

Redeemer  of  men.  In  speaking  upon  this  great 
theme,  I  choose  to  step  upon  that  broad  platform  where 
I  can  stand  side  by  side  with  those  Episcopal,  Bap- 
tist, and  Methodist  brethren,  who,  with  all  their  dis- 
crepancies, adopt  the  language  of  Paul  in  the  text. 
But  even  Paul  made  proper  account  of  subordinate 
questions.  When  they  came  and  asked  him  whether 
it  was  right  to  eat  that  which  had  been  laid  before  an 
idol,  and  was  then  exposed  for  sale  in  the  market,  he 
did  not  reply,  "  I  determined  not  to  know  anything 
among  you  save  Jesus  Christ  and  him  crucified,"  but 
he  gave  suitable  answers  to  such  inquiries. 

It  would  be  a  cause  of  gratitude  to  God  if  we  could 
say  that  evangelical  Christians  of  different  denomina- 
tions do  not  contend  for  their  forms  of  order  and 
worship  as  their  chief  concern.  Some,  however,  in 
all  denominations,  the  Congregational  not  excepted, 
hold  and  urge  extreme  views,  both  as  to  doctrine 
and  order.  We  may  be  as  bigoted  in  insisting 
upon  "  no  forms,"  as  others  are  who  insist  upon  their 
forms  and  order  as  essential  to  a  standing  in  the  Chris- 
tian church,  and  in  the  Christian  ministry.  And  as  to 
the  points  of  doctrine  in  which  evangelical  Christians 
differ,  while  we  all  have  our  strong  preferences,  and 
should  not  yield  what  we  deem  a  principle,  the  dissent 
of  confessedly  good  men,  whom  God  accepts  and 
honors,  should  make  us  charitable  and  liberal  in  our 
feelings,  and  prevent  us  from  unnecessarily  magnify- 


PR.    ADAMS'    LECTURE.  159 

ing  the  things  in  which  we  differ.  For  if  there  be  in 
us  one  thingr  more  than  another  which  is  offensive  to 
our  common  Lord  and  Master,  it  must  be-  a  preten- 
tious and  lofty  carriage  toward  other  denominations  of 
Christians  whom,  notwithstanding  the  signal  manner 
in  which  God  has  owned  and  blessed  them,  we  dis- 
franchise, and  then,  with  a  due  amount  of  admoni- 
tion and  warning,  notify,  that  our  doors  stand  open  to 
receive  them.  Bold  pretensions  to  the  only  divine  pa- 
tent right  in  religious  ordinances  have  their  effect 
upon  a  certain  class  of  minds,  and  may  lead  them,  by 
a  sort  of  intimidation,  to  join  another  communion; 
but  these  men  becoming,  as  they  generally  do,  tenfold 
more  intensely  sectarian  than  those  who  may  have 
been  born  in  the  sect,  only  help  to  make  the  denom- 
ination which  they  infest,  Ishmaelitish  toward  the 
whole  Israel  of  God. 

As  to  certain  doctrinal  points  on  which  true  Chris- 
tians differ,  let  us  each  be  fully  persuaded  in  his  own 
mind,  and  walk  according  to  the  light  which  we  en- 
joy ,  but  it  was  a  shrewd  stroke  in  the  author  of  the 
Paradise  Lost,  to  say  that  fallen  angels,  as  one  of 
their  occupations,  debated  the  subjects  of 

"  Fixed  fate,  free  will,  fore-knowledge  absolute ; 
And  found  no  end  in  wandering  mazes  lost." 

But  a  thorough  training  for  the  work  of  the  ministry 
pre-supposes  a  knowledge  of  the  constitution  of  the 


160  PITTS-STREET    CFIAPEL    LECTURE   . 

human  mind,  with  which  we  are  to  deal ;  and  if  one 
can  popularize  metaphysics  in  his  preaching,  and  by 
his  skilful- use  of  moral  science,  make  men  feel  that  he 
is  revealing  their  consciousness,  he  having,  moreover, 
the  higher  qualification  —  that  unction  which  the  Holy 
Spirit  alone  imparts,  he  will,  with  the  blessing  of  God, 
be  eminently  acceptable  and  useful.  But  if  he  makes 
the  theological  discrepancies  of  evangelical  denomi- 
nations needlessly  prominent,  and  uses  his  acquisitions 
chiefly  to  illustrate  and  enforce  his  peculiar  views,  he 
needs  to  follow  Paul  out  of  the  school  of  Gamaliel,  into 
the  school  of  that  Savior  whose  love  to  men  shed 
abroad  in  the  heart  is  better  than  to  "  understand  all 
mysteries  and  all  knowledge,"  and  which  alone  keeps 
us  from  becoming  ''  as  sounding  brass  or  a  tinkling 
cymbal."  As  the  Apostle  gloried  in  his  infirmities, 
let  us,  as  Congregationalists,  glory  that  we  do  not 
often  incur  the  reproach  of  sectarianism  in  regard  to 
our  denominational  order.  Some  among  us  feel  that 
this  is  an  infirmity,  and  that  we  ought  to  be  aggres- 
sive, insist  more  on  our  anti-prelatical  sentiments,  and 
commend  our  denominational  views  more  earnestly  to 
the  people.  But  Congregationalism  consists  so  essen- 
tially in  the  absence  of  what  we  call  human  inven- 
tions, that  it  is  difficult  to  make  it  aggressive.  The 
only  way  in  which  we  can  be  aggressive,  is,  to  debate 
the  scripturalness  or  expediency  of  the  denomina- 
tional tenets  held  by  other  sects.     This  we  can  do  as 


DR.    ADAMS^    LECTURE.  IGl 

often  as  they  are  exalted  so  as  to  reflect,  or  to  cast  dis- 
credit, upon  ourselves.  If  Christian  brethren  believe 
that  different  orders  in  the  ministry  and  stated  forms 
of  worship  are  not  forbidden  in  the  Word  of  God, 
we  rejoice  in  their  liberty  to  use  them ;  if  they  say 
that  these  things  are  enjoined,  we  still  yield  them  the 
same  liberty  of  conscience  which  we  claim  in  main- 
taining the  contrary ;  but,  when  they  tell  us  that  our 
ordinances  are  invalid,  and  our  ministry  unscriptural, 
they  remind  us  of  the  house  of  bondage,  where  our 
fathers  suffered  under  these  same  assumptions,  and 
from  which  God  brought  them  to  this  good  land,  and 
gave  them  institutions  so  free  as  to  allow  men  full 
liberty  of  conscience  and  speech,  even  to  the  setting 
forth  of  such  arrogant  claims.  May  the  time  never 
come  when  we  shall  need  to  have  open  and  general 
conflict  with  these  natural  enemies  and  invaders  of 
Congregational  liberty.  We  have  heavy  ordnance, 
and  large  equipments,  as  the  history  of  non-conform- 
ity shows ;  but  we  prefer  to  see  the  vine  trailing  itself 
over  the  bastions,  and,  as  in  the  windows  of  old 
castles,  the  olive  trefe  and  myrtles  filling  up  the  embra- 
sures which  look  toward  these  aggressors.  We  pray 
for  peace  and  charity  between  ourselves  and  other 
denominations,  and  we  would  not  offensively  obtrude 
our  peculiarities.  I  gladly  proceed  to  speak  of  the 
more  important  part  of  the  subject  assigned  for  this 
discourse,  being  willing  that  all  should  know  the  rela- 

14* 


1()2  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

tive  importance  which  we,  as  Congregationalists, 
attach  to  things  which  are  essential,  and  to  those 
which  are  not  essential,  to  salvation. 

Having  disposed,  therefore,  of  the  denominational 
part  of  my  theme,  I  proceed  to  speak  of  Trinita- 
RiANisM,  which  is  the  other  and  more  important  part 
of  the  subject  assigned  to  me. 

I  begin  the  doctrinal  part  of  the  discourse  by  sayings 
first  of  all.  We  have  a  Bible,  which  we  regard  and 
treat  as  a  revelation  from  heaven.  Here  we  have  a 
fast  anchorage  ground.  Not  many  years  ago,  one  Eu- 
ropean nation  and  another,  who  had  suffered  under 
monarchical  laws,  cried  out  for  a  written  constitution, 
and  the  battle  cry  was,  "  Written  Constitution." 
]Men  feel  safe  only,  when  they  have  such  an  instru- 
ment, ordained  and  published,  as  the  exposition  of 
their  duties,  .defining  the  rights  and  powers  of  the 
government,  and  constituting  the  basis  of  judicial  acts 
We  have  such  a  written  constitution.  It  is  to  us  the 
Word  of  God.  We  do  not  select  parts  of  it,  and  say 
that  these  are  inspired,  and  the  rest  is  of  no  authority. 
As  we  do  not  wish  to  speculate  about  the  actions  and 
words  of  Christ,  whether  this  were  divine,  and  ihis  hu- 
man, but  take  him  as  an  undivided  Christ  and  Savior, 
so  w^e  do  not  winnow  the  Bible,  but  take  it  altogether 
—  just  as  we  take  Christ  in  another  sense,  —  as  the 
"  Word  "  of  God.  We  settle  the  question  of  its  in- 
spiration in  this  w^ay.      We  take  the   Old   Testament 


163 

Canon,  for  example,  as  it  existed  in  the  time  of  Christ, 
and  we  say,  Jesus  Christ  came  as  a  teacher  of  religion. 
The  first  thing  which  a  teacher  looks  to,  is  the  books 
which,  as  a  teacher,  he  is  to  use.  When  and  where 
did  Jesus  Christ  speak  one  word  of  abrogation,  emen- 
dation, or  even  criticism,  with  regard  to  the  Old  Tes- 
tament Scriptures  ?  No  such  word  ever  fell  from  his 
lips.  On  the  contrary,  he  quoted  them  with  approba- 
tion, and  directed  his  hearers  to  search  the  Scriptm'es, 
saying,  "  for  in  them  ye  think  ye  have  eternal  life,  and 
they  are  they  which  testify  of  me."  He  did  not  seek 
to  disabuse  his  hearers  of  their  belief  that  eternal  life 
was  to  be  found  in  these  Scriptures ;  nor  did  he  point 
out  parts  of  them  which  were  of  less  authority  than 
others,  nor  did  he  caution  his  hearers  against  a  too 
implicit  belief  of  the  whole.  "  Think  not,"  he  said, 
"  that  I  am  come  to  destroy  the  law  or  the  prophets ;  1 
am  not  come  to  destroy  but  to  fulfil."  He  did  not 
bestow  qualified  praise  upon  the  Old  Testament,  as 
being  venerable  but  somewhat  antiquated,  worthy  of 
respect  and  love  for  Vv4iat  it  had  been,  and  still  useful 
if  judiciously  consulted,  but  soon  to  be  displaced  by 
the  New  Testament;  but,  "till  heaven  and  earth  pass, 
one  jot  or  one  tittle,"  he  declared,  "  should  in  no  wise 
pass  from  the  law  till  all  be  fulfilled."  As  there  are 
things  in  what  is  called  "  the  law  and  the  prophets," 
which,  upon  every  interpretation,  reach  to  the  end  of 
time,  this  proverbial  expression  of  the  Savior  will  be 


164  PIl^'SSTREET    CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

literally  fulfilled.  The  Apostle  Peter  who,  on  the 
mount  of  transfiguration,  heard  a  voice  from  heaven 
attesting  the  Messiahship  of  Christ,  and  saw  and  heard 
the  preternatural  things  which  then  and  there  trans- 
pired, tells  us,  that,  in  comparison  even  with  such  reve- 
lations, "  we  have  a  more  sure  Avord  of  prophecy ; 
whereunto  ye  do  well  that  ye  take  heed  as  unto  a  light 
that  shineth  in  a  dark  place,  until  the  day  dawn  and 
the  day  star  arise  in  your  hearts.  —  For  the  prophecy 
came  not  in  old  time  by  the  will  of  man,  but  holy 
men  of  God  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy 
Ghost."  So  that  we  take  the  Old  Testament,  from 
Genesis  to  Malachi,  from  the  hands  of  Jesus  Christ 
himself,  as  the  Word  of  God. 

As  to  the  New  Testament,  if  the  Apostles  were 
honest  men,  as  we  believe  them  to  have  been,  this  is 
all  that  we  need  to  satisfy  us  of  their  inspiration  ;  for 
they  claim  to  be  inspired,  and  they  suffered  and  died 
in  attestation  of  their  claim.  As  to  the  amount  of 
their  inspiration,  the  Savior  promised  them  that  the 
Holy  Spirit  should  guide  them  into  all  truth. 

We,  therefore,  have  a  Bible  which  we  receive  as 
implicitly  as  if  we,  like  Moses  and  the  Prophets,  should 
receive  direct  communications  from  heaven.  We  ap- 
ply the  same  rules  of  interpretation  to  the  Bible  which 
we  use  in  interpreting  other  writings,  and  having  as- 
certained what  is  declared,  we  believe  it,  whether  it  be 
level  to  our  eomprehension,  or  infinitely  beyond  it 


DR.    ADAMS'    LKCTURE.  165 

AVe  do  not  make  man  and  his  powers  of  understand- 
ing, the  standard  and  measure  by  which  we  decide 
what  the  nature  of  God  should  be  ;  we  do  no-t  make 
our  moral  sentiments,  nor  our  instincts,  nor  our  rela- 
tionships, a  rule  for  the  divine  administration  ;  but  we 
bring  all  our  powers  and  faculties  to  the  work  of  in- 
terpreting what  the  Bible  teaches  ;  here  we  use  our 
reason;  this  is  its  province.  Then,  if  the  Bible  teaches 
us  that  divine  attributes,  names,  works,  and  worsliip, 
are  ascribed  to  the  Father,  to  the  Son,  and  to  the  Holy 
Ghost,  if  all  the  usual  proofs  of  distinct  personal 
existence  demonstrate  the  equal  deity  of  Three,  and 
if  at  the  same  time  the  Bible  asserts,  with  equal  clear- 
ness, that  there  is  but  one  God,  we  believe  these  two 
truths — that  there  is  one  God,  and  that  there  is  a 
threefold  distinction  in  his  nature. 

Our  predisposition  as  inquirers  in  common  with  all 
men,  would  lead  us  not  to  adopt  this  mystery  respecting 
the  Godhead,  this  inexplicable  enigma,  preferring  nat- 
urally to  receive  things  which  lay  the  smallest  tax  on 
faith.  But  we  remember  the  reply  of  the  good  bishop 
to  the  man  who  said  that  he  had  resolved  not  to  be- 
lieve anything  which  he  could  not  understand.  The 
bishop  said,  "  Your  creed,  then,  will  be  the  shortest 
of  any  which  I  ever  knew." 

All  the  proofs  which  are  usually  adduced  to  show 
that  Christ  asserted  his  inferiority  to  the  Father,  con- 
firm and  illustrate  our  belief  that  the  Savior,  having 


166  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

two  distinct  natures  in  one  person,  said  things  which 
could  be  true  of  only  one  nature.  There  is,  in  our 
view,  as  much,  and  the  same,  logical  proof  that  Christ 
was  not  a  man,  as  that  he  was  not  divine  ;  and  we 
might  ask,  Why  not  doubt  and  deny  that  he  had  a  hu- 
man nature,  when  we  hear  him  say,  "  Before  Abraham 
was,  I  am  "  ?  ''  And  no  man  hath  ascended  up  into 
heaven,  but  he  which  came  down  from  heaven,  even 
the  Son  of  Man  which  is  in  heaven."  "  What  and  if 
ye  shall  see  the  Son  of  Man  ascend  up  where  he  was 
before  ?  "  "  All  things  were  made  by  Ixim,  and  with- 
out him  was  not  anything  made  that  was  made,"  thus 
making  him  identical  with  Him  who  "  in  the  begin- 
ning created  the  heavens  and  the  earth,"  and  who  said, 
"  Let  there  be  light ;  and  there  was  light."  Instead 
of  setting  aside  such  proofs  of  Christ's  deity,  we 
might,  with  equal  reason,  say  that  Christ's  human 
nature  was  a  fiction,  adopting  something  like  the  the- 
ory of  the  Docetoe,  a  sect  to  whom  John  refers  in  the 
first  verses  of  his  first  epistle,  and  who  (derived  their 
name  from  a  Greek  word,  signifying  to  see^n,  or  to  ap- 
pear, because  they  taught  that  Christ  had  only  acted 
and  suffered  in  appearance.  We  hold  to  the  coexist- 
ence in  Christ  of  two  natures,  without  mixture  or  con- 
fusion, and  therefore,  necessarily,  to  a  double  conscious- 
ness ;  and  we  believe  in  his  dependence  and  limited 
knowledge,  as  we  do  in  his  hunger  and  thirst,  his  weari- 
ness, his  prayers,  his  sorrows,  his  friendships,  his  agony 


DR.    ADAMS'    LECTURE.  167 

of  mind  and  body.  The  same  lips  uttered  words  dic- 
tated by  these  things,  as  well  as  those  which  proceeded 
from  his  remembrance  of  "the  glory  which  he  had  with 
the  Father  before  the  world  was."  If  we  are  told  that 
he  may  have  been  preexistent,  and  yet  not  be  divine, 
we  say,  "  Every  house  is  builded  by  some  man,  but  he 
that  built  all  things  is  God."  The  Most  High,  in  his 
controversy  with  idolaters  in  the  Old  Testament, 
makes  this  the  incontrovertible  proof  of  his  Godhead, 
that  he  alone  made  the  heavens  and  the  earth ; — "that 
stretcheth  forth  the  heavens  alone ;  that  spreadeth 
abroad  the  earth  by'myself;  "*  thus  emphatically  ex- 
cluding the  idea  of  delegated  power  in  the  work  of 
creation.  Moreover,  this  mysterious  being  declares 
that  he  is  to  sit  as  Judge  with  all  the  human  race  be- 
fore him,  and  that  he  will  separate  them  one  from  an- 
other, and  pronounce  the  final  sentence  upon  them. 

It  is  a  greater  tax  on  our  faith  to  believe  that  a  crea- 
ture does  this,  that  a  creature  "  made  all  things,"  and 
that  "  by  him  do  all  things  consist,"  than  that  the 
"  Word  was  with  God,  and  the  Word  was  God." 
We  can  agree  to  consider  this  subject  as  but  imper 
fectly  revealed  ;  but  to  say  that  the  divine  attributes  of 
Omnipotence  and  Omniscience  can  be  delegated  to  a 
creature,  is  far  more  of  a  stumbling-block  to  us.  This 
is  not  above  reason,  but  contrary  to  reason  ;  but  when 

*  Isaiah  xliv.  24.  Job  ix.  8,  etc. 


168  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

the  Bible  asserts  that  "  the  Word  was  with  God,  anu 
the  Word  was  God,"  this  belongs  to  a  region  of 
truths  far  above  us,  and  which  we  have  never  pene- 
trated, viz  :  the  mode  of  the  divine  existence. 

If  Christ  made  all  things,  whether  they  be  thrones, 
or  dominions,  or  principalities,  or  powers,  if  all  things 
were  created  by  him,  or  for  him,  he  is  our  Maker.  But 
our  Maker  is  surely  our  God  ;  and  therefore  we  give 
divine  worship  to  Christ. 

But  we  find  another  still  to  whom  divine  attributes 
are  attributed,  viz.,  The  Holy  Ghost.  The  only  sin 
which  is  unpardonable  is  blasphemy  against  Him.  If 
He  be  merely  divine  influence,  we  do  not  know,  and 
man  cannot  define,  what  the  unpardonable  sin  is ; 
therefore  it  cannot  be  committed ;  for  where  there  is 
no  law,  there  is  no  transgression.  We  are  free  to  say 
that  before  we  believed  in  the  personality  and  deity 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  we  had  no  intelligible  idea  of  the 
unpardonable  sin.  Now  we  can  understand  it.  He  is 
a  person.  He  is  a  divine  person.  He  is  the  great 
administrator  in  the  kingdom  of  grace,  applying  the 
work  of  Christ  to  the  hearts  of  men,  having  interc(;urse 
with  them  for  this  purpose.  He  who  deliberately 
speaks  words  of  contumely  against  this  Sacred  Person, 
sins  against  the  last  and  most  affecting  effort  of  reme- 
dial mercy ;  and  not  only  by  the  state  of  mind  which 
led  him  to  do  if,  has  he  placed  himself  beyond  hope 
of  recovery,  but  he  falls  under  a  judicial  act  of  con- 


DR.    ADAMS'   LECTURE.  169 

demnation.  To  say  that  we  may  blaspheme  the  Father 
and  the  Son,  and  be  forgiven,  but  if  we  blaspheme 
some  influence  of  either  of  them,  we  cannot  be  forgiven, 
does  greater  violence  to  our  understandings  than  to 
receive  that  which  we  deem  the  evidences  of  the  per- 
sonal existence  and  deity  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

That  he  is  a  person,  we  moreover  learfi  from  the 
Savior's  words,  in  which  he  tells  his  disciples  that  if 
he  himself  should  not  go  away,  the  Comforter  would 
not  come  unto  them.  If  the  Holy  Spirit  is  merely 
divine  influence,  how  the  Savior's  being  in  the  world 
should  keep  divine  influence  out  of  it,  especially  as 
Christ  is  the  light  of  the  world,  we  are  at  a  loss  to 
understand.  But  if  the  Holy  Spirit  be  a  divine  person, 
having  an  equal  share  with  Christ  in  the  work  of 
redemption,  and  having  a  special  office  assigned  to 
him,  viz.,  to  convince  and  convert  men,  as  the  Savior's 
office  was  to  suffer  and  die  for  sin,  we  can  see  why  the 
Savior  should  depart  and  give  place  to  him.  But  who 
is  this  that  is  capable  of  being  a  successor  to  Christ  ? 
Who  can  finish  such  a  work  as  that  which  the  Re- 
deemer began  ?  Who  is  it  that  is  competent  to  move 
upon  the  heart  of  every  human  being,  influence  his 
will,  and  transform  him  into  the  image  of  God  ? 

Baptism  is  administered  in  his  name,  equally  with 
that  of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son.  We  are  not  bap- 
tised in  the  name  of  God,  and  of  the  Messiah,  and  of  di- 
vine influences ;  and  the  apostolic  benediction  is  not  so 

15 


170  PITTS-STREET  CHAPEL  LECTURES. 

expressed.  When  we  read  that  "Jesus  taketh  Peter, 
James,  and  John,  into  a  mountain  apart,"  we  do  not 
hesitate  to  believe  in  three  persons.  We  cannot  be- 
lieve that  the  great  seal  of  the  Christian  religion.  Bap- 
tism, and  the  Christian  Benediction  associate  the 
name  of  a  created  being,  and  of  an  attribute,  with  the 
name  of  God.  We  hear  the  Holy  Ghost  speaking : 
"  Separate  me  Barnabas  and  Saul  to  the  work  where- 
unto  I  have  appointed  them."  He  is  represented  as 
the  author  of  the  Jewish  ritual :  "  The  Holy  Ghost 
this,  signifying,  that  the  way  into  the  holiest  of  all 
was  not  yet  made  manifest."  It  is  related  as  remark- 
able that  certain  of  John's  disciples  had  not  heard 
whether  there  be  any  Holy  Ghost.  But  they  could 
not  have  been  baptised  by  John  and  not  have  known 
that  there  was  such  a  thing  as  "  divine  influence,"  and 
therefore  this  could  not  have  been  all  which  was  signi- 
fied by  the  name,  "  Holy  Ghost,"  in  that  connection. 

So  we  come  to  the  conclusion  that  there  are  Three 
to  whom  divine  attributes,  names,  w^orks,  and  worship, 
are  ascribed,  and  we  are  left  to  choose  whether  to  be- 
lieve that  there  are  Three  Gods,  or  that  the  One  God 
exists  with  a  three-fold  distinction  in  his  nature.  For, 
to  set  aside  all  the  plain  proofs  that  supreme  deity  is 
ascribed  to  Three,  on  the  ground  that  we  dread  the 
inference  which  must  follow,  is  to  make  ourselves  like 
the  cotemporaries  of  Galileo  who  would  not  look 
through  his  telescope,  lest  their  discoveries  should  con- 


DR.   ADAMS'   LECTURE.  171 

found  their  theories.  Believing  that  there  is  but  One 
God,  we  adopt  the  belief  forced  upon  us  by  our  inter- 
pretation of  Scripture,  that  the  One  God  has  a  plural 
nature.  We  believe  in  the  Divine  Unity,  in  opposition 
to  the  belief  that  there  are  more  Gods  than  one ;  so 
that  "  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity"  is  a  form  of  stating 
the  collected  facts  concerning  the  mode  of  the  divine 
existence. 

But  "  the  word  Trinity  is  not  in  the  Bible,"  and  it 
has  been  said,  "  If  the  very  words  which  are  necessary 
to  express  the  doctrine  are  not  in  the  scriptures,  how 
can  we  suppose  the  doctrine  itself  to  be  there  ?  " 

The  expressions,  "  Omniscience,"  "  Unity  of  God," 
"  Sacrament,"  and  many  other  conventional  terms  are 
not  in  the  Bible.  The  word.  Trinity,  is  no  more  neces- 
sary to  the  doctrine  itself  than  the  expression,  "  com- 
munion of  saints",  is  necessary  to  the  existence  of 
Christian  fellowship.  These  terms  prevent  circumlo- 
cution, and  are  merely  convenient. 

"  But  Christ  said,  '  My  Father  is  greater  than  I.'  " 
None  but  a  being  who,  in  some  sense,  "  thought  it 
not  robbery  to  be  equal  with  God,"  would  be  so  pre- 
sumptuous as  thus  to  make  a  comparison  of  himself 
w^ith  the  Most  High.  Imagine  Moses  saying  to  the 
children  of  Israel  as  he  came  down  from  the  mount,  or 
even  Gabriel  saying  to  Mary,  "  My  Father  is  greater 
than  I."  We  can  free  ourselves  from  the  feeling  that 
there  is  assumption  in  those  woids  of  Jesus,  or  that 


172  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

He  forgot  himself,  or  was  unduly  elated,  or  used  an 
expression  which,  though  seemingly  in  deprecation  of 
too  great  reverence  for  himself,  was  really  irreverent, 
only  by  believing  that  his  disciples  were  liable  to  for- 
get, amidst  the  impressions  which  his  power  and  love 
had  made  on  their  hearts,  that  he  was  acting .  in  a 
subordinate  capacity,  and  that  they  needed  to  feel  that 
their  Savior's  personal  presence  was  not  the  greatest 
and  best  thing  for  them  ;  that  the  Father  was  engaged 
in  the  work  of  redemption  and  acted  as  its  head,  and 
that  the  Holy  Spirit  also  must  come  and  do  his  part 
of  the  divine  work.  By  such  an  interpretation  alone 
can  we  see  even  a  common  reverence  for  God,  and  an 
ordinary  sense  of  propriety,  (with  submission  be  it 
spoken,)  in  the  words,  "  My  Father  is  greater  than  I." 
Acting,  even  in  His  complex  nature,  in  a  subordinate 
capacity,  the  words  are  natural  and  appropriate  ;  but 
if  he  were  a  mere  man,  no  wonder  that  some  call 
him  fallible,  if  he  could  for  one  moment  have  com- 
pared himself  with  the  Infinite  One. 

"We  read,  "  No  man  knoweth  who  the  Son  is  but 
the  Father ;  and  no  man  knoweth  who  the  Father  is 
but  the  Son,  and  he  to  whom  the  Son  will  reveal 
Him.^'  Now  as  we  do  know  in  some  sense  of  the 
term,  and  according  to  the  measure  of  the  human  un- 
derstanding, who  God  is,  so  we  may  know  many 
things  which  are  revealed  concerning  Christ ;  but,  we 
learn  from  this    passage  that  there    are   mysteries  in 


DR.    ADAMS'   LECTURE.  173 

Christ'3  nature  which  are  not  fathomed,  except  by  the 
Father  ;  they  are  compared  to  the  mysteries  in  the  na- 
ture of  the  Father.  Equally  astonishing,  Christ  repre- 
sents himself  as  alone  capable  of  knowii^  the  Father. 

Such- is  the  mystery,  concerning  which  Paul  prayed 
for  "  as  many  as  had  not  seen  his  face  in  the  flesh," 
"  that  their  hearts  might  be  comforted,  being  knit  to- 
gether in  love,  and  unto  all  riches  of  the  full  assurance 
of  understanding,  to  the  acknowledgment  of  the  mys- 
tery of  God,  and  of  the  Father,  and  of  Christ." 

It  is  interesting  to  know  that  those  denominations 
who  believe  in  the  plenary  inspiration  of  the  Bible 
as  a  revelation  from  God,  find  in  it  the  doctrine  of  a 
threefold  personal  distinction  in  the  Godhead.  And 
those  denominations  who  reject  the  plenary  inspira- 
tion of  the  Bible,  do  not  find  that  doctrine  there.  I 
mention  this  as  a  coincidence  worthy  of  notice.  The 
two  things,  plenary  inspiration  of  the  Word  of  God, 
and  the  Deity  of  Christ,  usually  stand  or  fall  together. 

There  are  some  practical  views  of  this  subject 
which  will  be  considered  in  their  place.  I  proceed 
now  to  speak  of  Future  Retribution. 

We  bow  implicitly  to  the  disclosures  of  the  Bible, 
as  we  find  that  the  punishment  of  the  wicked  is  to  be 
without  end.  We  cannot  tell,  of  ourselves,  what  sin 
deserves.  We  listen,  implicitly,  to  the  revelation  of 
the  Most  High  on  that  subject.  We  believe  in  end- 
less future  punishment,  not  because  of  natural  timidi- 

15* 


174  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

ty,  or  superstitious  fear,  nor  because  our  teachers  so 
instruct  us.  We  have  an  average  share  of  intelli- 
gence and  cultivation,  are  no  better  and  no  worse 
than  our  neighbors.  We  are  as  capable  by  nature  of 
defying  the  Almighty,  we  are  as  bold  to  offend  him, 
and  to  rush  on  the  thick  bosses  of  his  buckler,  as  other 
sinners.  Some  think  that  we  must  have  direful  views 
of  God  to  believe  in  endless  future  punishment,  that 
he  must  seem  to  us  a  tyrant,  a  "  Draco,  whose  laws 
were  written  with  blood ",  whereas  to  them  God  ap- 
pears merciful  and  benign.  But  the  infinite  love  of 
God  is  one  of  the  strongest  considerations  in  our 
minds  with  regard  to  future  punishment;  for  to  us 
that  love  finds  its  highest  manifestation  in  the  ^ft  of 
a  Savior,  to  make  propitiation  for  our  sins.  In  our 
ransom  we  see  our  ruin.  The  love  of  Christ,  leading 
to  his  sufferings  and  death  for  sin,  do  more  than  any- 
thing else  to  persuade  us  that  the  wages  of  sin  is 
death ;  that  there  is  a  loss  of  the  soul  which  nothing 
can  prevent  but  the  sacrifice  on  Calvary.  That  such 
a  sacrifice  should  be  made,  by  the  incarnation  and  the 
expiatory  offering  of  the  Word  who  was  with  God 
and  was  God,  that  the  Holy  Spirit  should  come  to  ap- 
ply it  in  the  hearts  of  men,  a  ministry  of  reconciliation 
be  appointed,  whose  great  commission  is  to  say,  "  As 
though  God  did  beseech  you  by  us,  we  pray  you  in 
Christ's  stead.  Be  ye  reconciled  to  God;"  and  then  that 
men  having  rejected,  or   which  is  equivalent,  having 


175 

neglected,  this  Savior,  should  go  to  be  chastised  and 
disciplined  out  of  their  sins,  and  that,  too,  notwith- 
standing all  our  sufferings,  mingled  with  mercy,  here, 
and  all  the  warnings  and  threatenings  of  the  Bible,  and 
thus  reach  heaven  by  their  own  sufferings,  is  to  make 
the  love  of  God  a  failure,  and  punishment  to  be  the 
power  of  God  and  the  wisdom  of  God  unto  salvation. 
That  the  great  propitiation  for  sin  should  thus  come  to 
nought,  and  prison  discipline  prove  the  grand  instru- 
ment of  salvation,  excites  the  question  why  this  should 
not  have  been  resorted  to  at  first,  as  the  most  natural, 
and  certainly  as,  in  the  view  of  some  it  will  prove,  the 
most  effectual  way  of  reformation.  That  the  infinite 
love  of  God  will  thus  be  made  superfluous,  and  that 
any  of  our  race  will  reach  heaven  through  the  discip- 
line of  hell,  to  reflect  on  its  enormous  woes  as  the 
means  of  their  deliverance,  making  the  cross  of  Christ 
of  none  effect,  is  as  contrary  to  our  apprehension  of 
what  is  suitable  and  reasonable  as  it  is  to  the  word  of 
God.  So  that  if  any  come  to  us  and  say,  "  God  is 
love,  and  therefore  he  will  not  punish  forever,"  we  say, 
"Herein  is  love,"  pointing  them  to  the  cross;  we 
take  our  place  there,  and,  knowing  the  terrors  of  the 
Lord,  we  persuade  men.  Our  friends  who  differ  from 
us  think  that  a  belief  in  the  eternity  of  future  punish- 
ment must  make  us  unhappy.  They  forget  that  the 
idea  of  future  punishment  is  associated  in  our  minds 
with  redemption  from  it,  that  salvation  is  the  burden 


176  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL  LECTURES. 

of  our  preaching,  that  we  go  to  the  vilest  of  men,  fol- 
lowing even  the  felon  to  the  scaffold,  and  thus  to  the 
last  hour  of  every  sinner's  life  we  say,  "  For  God  hath 
not  appointed  us  to  wrath,  but  to  obtain  salvation  by 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  died  for  us,  that  whether 
we  wake  or  sleep  we  should  live  together  with  him." 

As  to  the  heathen,  we  shall  either  find  them  in 
heaven,  or  be  satisfied  with  the  reason  why  they  are 
not  there.  In  the  meantime,  we  are  obeying  the  last 
command  of  the  ascending  Savior  with  the  reason 
annexed,  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the 
Gospel  to  every  creature.  He  that  believeth  and  is 
baptised  shall  be  saved,  but  he  that  believeth  not  shall 
be  damned." 

We  find  in  the  Bible,  therefore,  that  every  one  who 
fails  to  accept  pardon  through  faith  in  the  atoning 
sacrifice  of  the  Lamb  of  God,  will  have  no  probation 
after  death.  The  Son  of  God,  the  Word  made  flesh, 
under  the  name  of  Jesus,  offers  up  himself,  the  presence 
of  the  divine  nature  in  his  person  giving  infinite  worth 
and  efficacy  to  his  sacrifice.  This  is  an  atonement 
for  sin,  stated  in  this  most  simple  way :  "  Christ  died 
for  us ;  "  "  to  give  his  life  a  ransom  for  many ;  "  "  to 
be  a  propitiation  through  faith  in  his  blood ; "  "  he  died 
for  all ; "  "  Christ  died  for  our  sins  according  to  the 
Scriptures,"  and  other  expressions  in  great  number 
and  variety.  The  death  of  Christ  is  proposed  to  men 
as  the  ground  on  which  God  can  be  just,  and  justify 


DR.   ADAMS'   LECTURE.  177 

him  that  believeth  in  Jesus.  Repentance  and  the  remis- 
sion of  sins  are  to  be  preached  in  his  name  among 
all  nations.  We  do  not  understand  why  an  atone- 
ment like  this  was  made,  rather  than  any  other ;  we 
find  it  set  forth,  and  urged  upon  us,  as  that  alone 
which  delivers  us  from  the  wrath  to  come.  And  we 
cannot  see  why  it  is  unjust,  or  cruel,  that  we,  for  whom 
such  infinite  condescension  and  such  a  sacrifice  took 
place,  should,  upon  refusing  to  accept  it,  suffer  such 
consequences  as  God  in  his  wisdom  shall  appoint. 
"  God  so  loved  the  world  that  He  gave  His  only  be- 
gotten Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should 
not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life." 

There  is  far  more  prominence  given  to  love  than  to 
fear  in  our  system  of  faith.  Its  great  central  truth  is, 
love  to  the  guilty.  But  he  has  no  experience  or  obser- 
vation who  does  not  know  that  in  every  form  of  gov- 
ernment, private  or  public,  fear  is  an  important  and 
indispensable  element ;  it  has  its  place ;  that  place  is 
not  in  precedence  of  everything  else,  for  then  we  infer 
despotism  in  the  government.  But  God  appeals  to 
-the  principle  of  fear  in  governing  us,  and  fear  auickens 
love  and  obedience  even  in  the  purest  relations  of  life. 
The  great  inducements  to  faith*  in  Christ  which  God 
himself  presents,  are  addressed  to  our  love  of  happi- 
ness and  to  our  fears  of  misery,  and  he  who  proposes 
to  leave  out  fear  in  religion  is  as  unscriptural  as  he  is 
forgetful  of  our  natural  instincts. 


178  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

While  the  love  of  God,  in  the  gift  of  a  Savioi, 
sheds  its  light  and  glory  over  the  whole  system  of  re- 
vealed truth,  we  believe  that  the  God  and  Father  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  also  the  God  of  the  Old 
Testament,  with  all  that  is  there  related  of  him  as 
vindictive  and  implacable  toward  the  incorrigibly 
wicked.  There  has  been  no  change  in  the  divine 
character  since  the  flood,  the  destruction  of  Sodom 
and  Gomorrah,  and  the  extirpation  of  the  Cananites. 
"Our  God  is  a  consuming  fire."  "It  is"  still  "a 
fearful  thing  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  living  God." 
The  Savior,  himself,  is  all  which  the  Old  Testament 
represents  God  to  be,  in  his  final  treatment  of  wicked 
men.  "  For  the  Lord  Jesus  shall  be  revealed  from 
heaven  with  his  mighty  angels,  in  flaming  fire,  taking 
vengeance  on  them  that  know  not  God,  and  that  obey 
not  the  Gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

We  believe  that  no  language  can  describe,  no  mind 
can  conceive  the  punishment  which  sin  deserves,  and 
which  awaits  us  if  we  reject  the  Gospel,  and  refuse  to 
repent.  Some  of  President  Edwards'  well-known 
sermons  express  our  general  views  upon  this  subject;^ 
but  neither  they,  nor  any  other  descriptions,  do  justice 
to  the  dread  reality.  To  one  who  was  finding  fault 
with  the  terrible  language  in  some  of  Richard  Bax- 
ter's works  on  this  theme,  a  good  man  said,  "  One 
word  of  damnation  from  the  lips  of  Christ  is  more 
than  a  thousand  of  Mr.  Baxter's."     We  believe  that 


DR.    ADAMS'   LECTURE.  179 

God  will  punish  sin  in  a  way  corresponding  to  the  in- 
finite wonders  of  his  love  and  grace  in  redemption; 
and  that  as  there  are  said  to  be  depths  in  the  ocean 
corresponding  to  the  height  of  mountains,  so  they  who 
neglect  Christ  and  continue  in  sin,  will  endure  a  pun- 
ishment corresponding  to  the  gi'eatness  of  the  salva- 
tion which  was  provided  for  them.  We  believe  that 
the  justice  of  God  will  be  as  clearly  and  fully 
illustrated  as  his  love,  and  that  the  two  will  lay  a 
foundation  for  the  confidence  and  joy  of  the  holy  uni- 
verse, in  whose  government  the  effdless  punishment 
of  sin  will  hold  an  important  place.  Let  it  be  fully 
understood,  that  our  belief  in  the  future,  endless  pun- 
ishment of  all  who  reject  salvation  by  Christ  is  one 
important  element  in  our  love  and  gratitude  to  the 
Father,  to  the  Son,  and  to  the  Holy  Ghost,  for  the 
stupendous  work  of  redemption,  and  that  it  is  the 
occasion  of  love  and  zeal,  which  should  be  more  by  a 
hundred  fold,  for  the  souls  of  our  fellow  men. 

We  find  that  the  Bible  has,  in  all  ages  of  the  world, 
made  certain  impressions  on  the  vast  majority  of  its 
readers  ;  the  cultivated,  the  gentle,  the  humane,  the 
benevolent,  the  learned  as  well  as  the  unlearned ;  and 
we  are  accustomed  to  supj^se  that  if  God  has  given 
a  revelation  to  man,  its  meaning  would  lie  on  its 
surface,  as  we  find  is  the  case  in  all  written  commu- 
nications which  are  intended  to  be  understood ;  so  that 
the  sense  which  is  generally  received  from  age  to  age 


180  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

by  common  readers  of  the  Bible,  is  and  must  be  true. 
Now  we  perceive  that  mankind  at  large,  who  receive 
the  Bible  implicitly  as  the  word  of  God,  find  there 
that  God  will  punish  the  incorrigibly  wicked  without 
end.  We  say.  Who  invented  this  terrible  truth  ?  It  is 
not  agreeable  to  our  natural  feelings.  Our  reason 
would  not  have  suggested  it.  Were  it  a  palpable 
error,  time,  which  has  reformed  many  errors  and  ex- 
ploded others,  surely  would  have  consigned  this  long 
ago  to  the  moles  and  the  bats,  if  it  had  no  foundation 
in  the  Bible.  Y^  there  were  never  so  many  who  be- 
lieved it  as  at  the  present  day  ;  and  we  are  therefore 
confirmed  in  the  belief  derived  from  the  impressions 
which  the  Bible  makes  upon  us,  that  there  is  no  for- 
giveness after  death.  These  things  I  mention  chiefly 
to  illustrate  the  manner  in  which  evangelical  Chris- 
tians of  all  denominations  receive  and  interpret  the 
word  of  God.  The  mode  of  the  divine  existence,  and 
the  future  eternal  punishment  of  the  wicked,  are  tw^o 
things  which  make  large  demands  on  faith.  We, 
therefore,  believe,  without  comprehending  the  subjects 
of  our  faith,  in  these  two  mysteries,  as  we  all  do  with 
regard  to  the  union  of  soul  and  body,  the  final  resur- 
rection, and  the  ultimate  truths  in  the  various  depart- 
ments of  nature. 

If  one  says  here.  How  can  three  be  one  and  one 
three  ?  we  say,  that  God  cannot,  of  course,  be  three  in 
the  same  sense  in  which  he  is  one,  nor  is  he  one  in  the 


DR.    ADAMS'    LECTURE.  181 

same  sense  in  which  he  is  three.  But  we  are  not  so 
presumptuous  as  to  sit  as  teachers  to  our  fellow  mor- 
tals, with  regard  to  that  of  which,  like  them,  we  know 
nothing.  The  only  source  from  which  we  can  derive 
knowledge  concerning  God,  is  equally  in  their  posses- 
sion as  in  ours ;  and  while  we  disclaim  any  superiority 
to  them,  they  may  not  properly  reproach  us  with  believ- 
ing absurdities,  or  cleaving  to  exploded  errors.  There 
are  immeasurably  less  difficulties  with  us  in  believing 
that  Christ  and  the  Holy  Spirit  are  divine,  than  in  the 
opposite  theory ;  and  believing  in  their  divinity,  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Trinity  is  the  only  relief  from  believing  in 
three  Gods.  If  it  be  replied,  that  this  is  impossible 
in  the  nature  of  things,  we  might  be  satisfied  to  make 
the  reply  which  our  late  distinguished  statesman  and 
fellow  citizen  made  to  a  friend  who  met  him  at  the 
door  of  an  Episcopal  church,  and  rallied  him  on  wor- 
shiping at  a  place  where  the  doctrine  of  three  in  one 
was  inculcated.  The  reply  was,  "  Neither  you  nor  I 
understand  the  arithmetic  of  heaven."* 

*  Having  used  this  anecdote  after  much  hesitation,  and  apprehending 
that  it  might  seem  like  resorting  to  a  great  name  among  mei^or  support 
to  divine  truth,  I  find  it  necessary,  for  certain  reasons,  to  go  farther,  and 
add  tlie  following  ;  —  which,  liowever,  I  still  would  not  do,  if  the  point 
were  merely  the  assent  of  any  distinguished  man  to  a  controverted  doc- 
trine of  the  Bible. 

Since  this  sermon  was  preached,  I  have  obtained  authentic  informa- 
tion respecting  this  anecdote.     A  distinguished  clergyman  writes  to  me 
u  answer  to  my  inquiry,  as  folloM'S  :  — 
16 


182  PITTS-STREET  CHAPEL  LECTUITES. 

The  greatest  intellect  is  as  infantile  in  its  capacity 
to  understand  the  "  great  mystery  of  godliness,  God 
manifest  in  the  flesh,"  as  a  child,  and  therefore  the 
mystery  owes  no  man  any  obligation  for  acceding  to 
it ;  nor  can  great  names  confirm  or  impeach  it.  I 
quote  this  remark,  therefore,  only  to  say,  in  accord- 
ance with  it,  that  it  becomes  us  not  to  pronounce  con- 
fidently as  to  the  impossibility  of  there  being  a  three- 
fold distinction  in  the  one  God.  But  I  will  endeavor 
soon  to  commend  the  subject  to  your  approbation,  and 
not  leave  it  as  a  cold  and  barren  abstraction. 

We  are  inquired  of  whether  a  man  would  punish 
his  child  forever,  and  whether  the  human  mind  does 
not  revolt  from  the  idea  of  endless  misery,  and  whether 
we  have  read  the  Evangelical  Baptist  John  Foster's 
objections  to  Endless  Punishment.  We  had  read  the 
twenty-fifth  chapter  of  Matthew  before  we  read  Mr. 
Foster's  views,  and  we  have  read  that  chapter  since, 
with  other  passages  of  the  Savior's  discourses  which 
relate  to  future  retributions.  We  feel  ourselves  to  be 
the  persons  to  whom,  in  common  with  our  fellow  sin- 

*'  Dining  with  Mr.  Webster  two  months  before  his  death,  I  remarked 
to  him  that  I  had  been  informed  of  an  event  which  I  wished  him  to  con- 
tradict, modify,  or  confirm.  The  statement  was,  that  a  gentleman  met 
him  one  day  as  he  was  coming  out  of  an  Episcopal  church,  and  accosted 
him  thus  :  '  Tlien  you  attend  that  church  1 '  '  Sometimes/  '  So  you 
believe  that  three  and  one  are  the  same  thing  1'  '1  believe.  Sir,'  said  Mr. 
Webster;  '  that  neither  you  nor  I  understand  the  arithmetic  of  heaven.'  — 
'  You  have  it,'  said  Mr.  Webster  [to  my  informant,]  '  as  it  occurred.'  " 


DR.    ADAMS'   LECTURE.  183 

ners,  these  warnings  of  future  endless  retribution  are 
addressed ;  and  we  more  than  question  the  propriety 
of  our  sitting  in  judgment  on  the  penalties  threatened 
against  our  transgressions.  The  eternity  of  future 
punishment  is  no  more  agi-eeable  and  no  more  intelli- 
gible to  us  than  to  others.  But  we  prefer  that  God 
should  be  law-giver  and  judge,  remembering  that 
transgressors,  when  they  suffer  the  penalty  of  their 
sins,  are  apt  to  feel  that  it  violates  their  sense  of  pro- 
priety, and  goes  against  many  of  their  instinctive  feel- 
ings ;  for  they  feel  sure  that  they  never  would  treat  a 
child  as  the  law  treats  them.  We  find  that  a  parent 
may  do  things  ^n  his  government  and  discipline  which 
the  teacher  of  .a  school  'cannot  safely  adopt ;  that  the 
teacher  of  a  school  can  act  on  some  principles  which 
are  not  practicable  in  the  government  of  a  man-of-war, 
an  army,  a  city,  or  a  nation ;  in  a  word,  that  as  the 
sphere  of  authority  widens,  analogies  sought  between 
one  and  another  of  them,  fail.  We  forbear,  therefore,  to 
make  our  moral  sentiments  the  source  of  information 
concerning  God  and  his  government,  but  we  would 
rather  bring  them  to  the  word  of  God  for  correction  and 
instruction,  accepting  the  great  Protestant  maxim  that 
the  Scriptures  are  the  only  and  the  all-sufficient  rule 
of  faith  and  practice.  So  long,  therefore,  as  we  receive 
the  Bible  as  an  authoritative  standard  of  truth,  we  are 
compelled  to  receive  the  doctrine  of  future  endless  ret- 
ribution, as  the  vast  majority  of  devout  persons  have 
received  it  in  all  ages  of  the  world. 


184  PITTS-STREET    CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

Injustice  would  be  done  to  the  system  of  Evan- 
gelical belief,  if  I  should  rest  here,  and  leave  the  im- 
pression that  our  faith  is  a  heartless  assent  to  an  all- 
constraining  power,  requiring  blind  submission  to  its 
disclosures.  While  some  of  the  principal  doctrines  of 
our  faith  are  above  reason,  I  shall  be  happy  to  show 
that  not  only  are  they  not  against  reason,  but  being 
accepted  as  matters  of  pure  revelation,  they  commend 
themselves  to  our  consciences  and  hearts.  This  sys- 
tem stimulates  and  develops  the  powers  of  the  human 
mind,  and  brings  forth  all  the  best  a*ffections  of  the 
human  soul. 

Our  religion  does  not  begin  with  requiring  us  to  be- 
lieve that  three  can  be  one  and  one  three,  or  that  a 
part  of  mankind  will  suffer  without  end  for  their  sins. 
The  way  in  which  we  have  generally  arrived  at  a  full 
and  settled  persuasion  concerning  our  doctrine  is,  by  a 
discovery  of  the  infinite  love  of  God  to  us  in  the  way 
of  salvation,  so  that  we  are  led  to  say  with  the  Apostle 
John,  "  And  we  have  known  and  believed  the  love 
which  God  hath  toward  us."  The  love  of  God  is  the 
sun  in  our  system  of  truth.  If  others  rejoice  in  God 
as  their  heavenly  father,  and  celebrate  his  love  as  the 
great  theme  of  religion,  we  have  proofs  and  illustra- 
tions of  that  love  which  make  our  praises  surpass 
theirs.  It  reminds  us  of  the  Oratorio  of  the  Messiah 
compared  with  Pope's  Universal  Prayer.  Our  great 
theme  is,  "  For  God  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave 


DR.    ADAMS'    LECTURE.  185 

his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth' in 
him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life."  We 
do  not  teach,  do  not  believe,  that  God  was  implacable 
towards  us,  and  that  the  Son  of  God  int^posed  and 
prevailed  upon  him  to  accept  Him  as  a  substitute  for 
us ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  that  redemption  began  with* 
the  Father  as  well  as  with  the  Son;  that  it  was  a 
plan  of  infinite  mercy  to  save  sinners,  and  not  an 
agreement  to  be  appeased  and  satisfied.  Our  hymn 
writers  and  orators  dramatize  the  work  of  redemption, 
and  say  many  things  with  a  poetic  license  in  a  fervent 
state  of  mind,  which  an  ordinary  degree  of  literary 
discernment  and  candor,  nevertheless,  finds  it  easy  to 
distinguish  from  a  strictly  accurate  theological  state- 
ment. 

An  individual  is  made  to  feel  that  all  is  not  right 
between  himself  and  God.  It  is  not  so  much  that  he 
dreads  future  punishment,  though  he  has  good  war- 
rant, both  in  reason  and  in  Scripture,  for  being  moved 
with  fear  to  prepare  an  ark,  to  the  saving  of  his  house ; 
but  he  is  dissatisfied  with  himself ;  he  wishes  to  have 
a  sense  of  reconciliation  and  peace  with  God. 

He  goes  to  an  evangelical  minister  and  tells  him  his 
tale  of  sorrow.  Among  other  things,  he  says,  "I  was 
educated  in  an  entire  unbelief  of  your  faith ;  was 
always  taught  that  '  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  is  not 
found  in  the  Bible  ' ;  that  repentance  is  sufficient  for 

16* 


18G  PITTS-STEEET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

salvation  ;  but  I  am  not  satisfied.     What  must  I  do 
to  be  saved  ?  " 

No  one  who  has  himself  experienced  the  power  of 
religion,  would  begin  by  teaching  this  enquirer  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Trinity.  He  would  rather  direct  him  to 
dismiss  his  troubled  thoughts  about  that  mystery,  and 
he  would  say  to  him.  My  friend,  you  need  that  which 
God  has  appointed  for  you,  namely,  some  other  right- 
eousness than  your  own,  as  the  ground  of  pardon  and 
acceptance  with  God.  You  are  a  sinner,  and  are  under 
condemnation  for  your  sins ;  by  nature  a  child  of 
wrath,  even  as  others.  But  God  has  so  loved  you, 
even  in  your  rebellion  and  ill  desert,  as  to  give  the 
Savior  to  be,  by  his  sufferings  and  death,  a  substitute 
for  your  punishment.  He  becomes  your  righteousness, 
or,  the  ground  and  reason  of  your  deliverance  from  con- 
demnation. The  only  condition  required  of  you  is,  that 
you  believe  with  your  heart,  and  accept,  this  offered 
way  of  being  pardoned  and  reconciled  to  God.  Con- 
sider such  words  as  these :  Christ  "  was  delivered  for 
our  offences,  and  raised  again  for  our  justification." 
"  He  was  wounded  for  our  transgressions,  he  was 
bruised  for  our  iniquities ;  the  chastisement  of  our 
peace  was  upon  him,  and  by  his  stripes  we  are  healed." 
Then  the  way  to  avail  yourself  of  this  righteousness  is 
declared  in  such  words  as  these :  ''  Therefore  being 
justified  by  faith,  we  have  peace  with   God  through 


DR.    ADAMS'    LECTURE.  187 

our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  "  There  is  therefore  now  no 
condemnation  to  them  which  are  in  Christ  Jesus."  "  He 
that  believeth  shall  not  come  into  condemnation,  but  is 
passed  from  death  unto  life."  You  need,  first  of  all,  to 
be  forgiven ;  you  must  apply  for  pardon  to  Him  who 
can  be  just  and  justify  him  that  believeth  in  Jesus ; 
not  him  that  merely  repenteth — but  "  him  that  believ- 
eth in  Jesus."  The  inquirer,  then,  believes  that  the 
way  which  God  has  ordained  for  sinners  to  be  recon- 
•ciled  to  him  is  through  the  sufferings  and  death  of  the 
Savior,  constituting  an  equivalent  for  the  punishment 
of  the  sins  of  the  whole  world.  All  that  the  Bible  says 
about  the  Savior's  death,  his  blood,  his  cross,  all  the 
types  in  the  sacrifices,  and  the  names  of  Christ  ful- 
filling them,  "Lamb  of  God,"  "High  Priest,"  "the 
offering  of  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ  once  for  all,"  satisfy 
him  that  the  atoning  death  of  Christ  is  the  appointed 
ground  of  acceptance  with  God.  He  then  sees,  more 
than  ever,  what  a  sinner  he  is,  and  how  great  the  enor- 
mity of  sin  must  be  to  have  required  such  a  sacrifice  ; 
and  the  love  of  God  toward  him,  and  the  thought  of 
Christ  as  dying  for  him,  fills  him  with  true  sorrow  for 
his  sins  such  as  he  never  felt  before ;  for  repentance  is 
the  sorrow  of  love;  we  never  repent  toward  any  one 
till  some  feeling  of  interest  in  him  or  love  toward  him, 
touches  the  heart.  Nothing  has  this  effect  compared 
with  the  thought  of  Christ  dying  for  our  sins.  Now 
the  inquirer  accepts  Christ  as  he  finds  him  to  be  offered 


188  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL  LECTURES. 

in  the  gospel,  and  doing  so  there  takes  place  in  him  at 
the  time,  that  change,  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  of  which  Christ 
spoke  to  Nicodemus,  when  he  said,  "  Except  a  man  be 
born  again  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God."  But 
his  act  of  believing  was  itself  the  work  of  the  Holy 
Spirit ;  "  for  by  grace  are  ye  saved  through  faith  ;  and 
that  not  of  yourselves ;  it  is  the  gift  of  God."  This 
change  is  that  regeneration  by  which  we  have  spiritual 
perceptions,  and  feelings,  and  tastes ;  and  he  that  ex- 
periences it,  we  say,  will  certainly  persevere  to  the  end 
and  be  saved.  "  Being  confident  of  this  very  thing  that 
he  which  hath  begun  a  good  work  in  you  will  perform 
it  until  the  day  of  Christ."  It  is  that  part  of  redemp- 
tion which  the  Holy  Spirit  performs  in  our  souls  as  a 
consequence  of  the  atonement  by  Christ ;  "  in  whom 
after  that  ye  believed  ye  were  sealed  with  that  Holy 
Spirit  of  promise,  which  is  the  earnest  of  our  inherit- 
,ance  until  the  redemption  of  the  purchased  possession." 
In  our  mental  philosophy,  in  the  whole  range  of  human 
experience,  we  never  find  anything  to  be  compared 
with  the  knowledge  of  ourselves,  the  self  control,  the 
disclosure  of  new  objects  of  spiritual  affection  and  pur- 
suit, the  inward  peace  and  satisfaction,  which  flow  from 
this  change  which  is  connected  with  the  one  act  of 
saving  faith  in  the  Redeemer.  "  If  any  man  be  in 
Christ  he  is  a  new  creature;  old  things  are  passed 
away ;  behold  all  things  are  become  new." 

A  friend  who  cannot  understand  how  three  can  be  one 


DR.   ADAMS'   LECTURE.  189 

and  one  three,  knowing  that  this  new  convert  formerly 
had  great  perplexity  on  that  subject,  now  inquires  of 
him  how  he  has  settled  that  problem.  I  have  not  set- 
tled it,  he  says.  All  that  I  know  is,  that  I  have  seen 
myself  to  be  a  lost,  perishing  sinner,  in  need  of  other 
righteousness  than  my  own.  I  have  found  in  Christ 
Jesus  an  Almighty  Savior.  I  worship  him,  I  have 
committed  my  soul  to  him ;  and  yet  I  c^n  no  more 
understand  the  great  mystery  of  godliness,  God  mani- 
fest in  the  flesh,  than  I  could  before.  I  take  the  re- 
vealed facts  concerning  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the 
Holy  Spirit,  and  I  believ-e  them,  and  am  willing  to 
believe  concerning  the  unsearchable  God  anything 
which  he  is  pleased  to  reveal ;  and  I  do  not  perplex 
myself  with  attempts  at  explanation. 

But  one  inquires  whether  we  may  not  trust  in  the 
Savior's  sufferings  and  death  for  sin,  and  still  not  be- 
lieve in  his  supreme  deity.     May  not  God  have  ap 
pointed  his  sufferings  for  our  redemption,  even  if  he 
be  only  a  super-angelic  being  ? 

It  has  seemed  to  us  that  we  have  sometimes  met 
those  who  thus  received  Christ  as  a  Savior,  and  who, 
while  they  could  not,  or,  on  account  of  their  religious 
instruction,  had  not  received  Christ  in  his  divine  na 
ture,  nevertheless  relied  upon  his  mediation,  and 
prayed  to  him.  All  this,  it  is  easy  to  see,  is  theologi- 
cally inconsistent,  for  it  is  rendering  worship  to  a  crea- 


190  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

ture.  To  say  that  saving  faith  may  not  be  found  in 
connection  with  such  inadvertency  and  imperfect  know- 
ledge, would  be  to  limit  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
and  we  might  thereby  break  some  bruised  reed,  Ox 
quench  the  smoking  flax.  But  exceptional  cases  form 
no  rule  of  duty  ;  we,  who  are  capable  of  understand- 
ing how  impossible,  in  the  nature  of  things,  it  is,  for  a 
creature  to  •atone  for  sin,  must,  if  we  accept  that 
atonement,  refer  it  to  a  divine  nature  in  Christ  giving 
infinite  worth  and  eflicacy  to  his  sufferings  and 
death. 

We  would  affectionately  say  to  those  who  are 
greatly  troubled  by  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  and* 
who  aver,  with  the  utmost  sincerity,  that  they  would 
believe  it  if  satisfied  that  the  Bible  disclosed  it, — that 
we  seldom,  if  ever,  find  that  any  arrive  at  a  belief  in  it 
by  speculating  about  it,  by  reading  books  on  the  sub- 
ject, by  discussions  with  their  friends,  or  through 
religious  controversies.  The  doctrine  of  the  Trinity 
is,  by  itself,  of  no  practical  value,  any  more  than  it  is 
to  know  whether  there  be  six,  or  seven  stars  in  the 
Pleiades.  The  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  is  important 
only  as  systematizing  for  us  the  previously  ascertained 
truths  of  the  Supreme  Deity  of  the  Son,  and  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  It  is  a  conclusion,  resulting  frorn  things 
which  are  gathered  independently  of  any  theory. 

Some  wonder  why  the  doctrine  should  seem  so  mys- 
terious, and   even  absurd,  to   them,   when    so   many 


DR.    ADAMS'  LECTURE.  191 

whom  th'ey  respect  and  love,  believe  it.  An  able 
writer  undertakes  to  explain  why  the  Epistle  to  the 
Romans  is  usually  regarded  as  very  difficult.  His  ex- 
planation is  applicable  to  our  subject.  He  says, 
"  Where  there  is  wanting,  in  the  reader's  own  life,  an 
experience  analogous  to  that  of  the  Apostle,  it  is 
utterly  unintelligible."  *  We  must  feel  our  personal 
need  of  that  which  led  to  the  disclosure  of  the  mys- 
tery in  the  Godhead,  that  is  to  say,  the  Redemption 
which  is  by  Christ;  then  we  receive  the  mystery. 
Abundant  illustrations  of  this  are  to  be  found  among 
us  in  those  who  once  rejected  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity,  but  who  are  now  members  of  our  Evangelical 
churches. 

The  way,  therefore,  to  arrive  at  a  belief  in  the  Trin- 
ity is,  not  by  direct  efforts  to  reconcile  the  seemingly 
contradictory  propositions  which  it  involves,  but,  to 
ask,  "  What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ?  "  to  comply  with 
the  directions  of  the  Bible,  which  point  to  the  suffer- 
ings and  death  of  Christ  as  the  only  way  of  salvation  ; 
and  thus,  having  received  the  pardon  of  sin  through 
his  blood,  and  the  renewing  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  we 
come  to  believe  in  the  deity  of  Christ,  and  of  the 
Spirit;  and  that  which  we  call  the  Doctrine  of  the 
Trinity  supervenes  in  our  belief  as  a  necessary  conse- 
quence, and  as  the  only  way  of  escaping  from  .the 
belief  that  there  are  more  Gods  than  one. 

*  Olshausen's  Commentaiy  on  the  New  Testament,  lu.,  463. 


192  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL  LECTURES. 

The  theory  of  our  evangelical  faith,  all  must  admit, 
is  most  sublime.  Every  one  who  considers  it  ab- 
stractly, if  he  be  impartial,  must  say,  There  is  at  least 
one  thing  in  it  which  it  is  most  desirable  should  be 
true.  The  human  mind,  from  the  beginning,  has  been 
craving  visible  manifestations  of  the  Godhead,  some- 
thing to  satisfy  it  that  God,  a  Spirit,  is  near  to  us,  inter- 
ested in  human  affairs,  and  also  to  know  his  feelings  and 
wishes  with  regard  to  us.  Hence,  the  various  theories 
of  incarnation,  and  all  the  numberless  forms  of  idola- 
try, showing  the  desire  in  the  human  mind  for 
the  manifestation  of  God.  Now,  if  God  so  exists, 
that  in  one  of  the  mysterious  distinctions  of  his  essen- 
tial being  he  will  take  man's  nature  into  union  with 
his  own,  being  born  of  a  woman,  and  passing  through 
all  the  conditions  of  human  life,  then  make  expia- 
tion for  our  sins,  and  become  our  Redeemer  and 
Savior,  —  who  will  not  say.  Could  this  be  possible, 
what  more  is  there  to  be  desired  ?  Now,  this  is  our 
faith.  The  Word  made  flesh  lies  in  the  manger  at 
Bethlehem,  passes  through  all  the  stages  of  human 
life,  bears  our  griefs,  and  carries  our  sorrows,  is  tempted 
in  all  points  as  we  are,  enters  into  all  our  feelings, 
is  our  forerunner  through  all  the  dark  passages  of  life, 
while  we  know  that  "  he  is  before  all  things  and  by  him 
do  all  things  consist,"  that  "  all  things  were  made  by 
him,  and  without  him  was  not  anything  made  that  is 
made."     I  can  call  him  my  elder  brother,  and  y;i  the 


193 

next  breath  my  God  ;  now  tell  the  man  of  sorrows  my 
trouble,  and,  in  a  moment  after,  pray  him,  as  my  final 
Judge,  to  be  my  advocate  at  the  world's  last  session. 
Angels,  authorities  and  powers  are  subject  unto  him, 
who  nevertheless  says  to  every  child  of  man,  "  Behold 
I  stand  at  the  door  and  knock  ;  if  any  man  hear  my 
voice  and  open  the  door,  I  wdll  come  in  unto  him  and 
sup  with  him  and  he  with  me."  Though  He  will 
come  at  the  end  of  the  world  with  all  his  holy  angels, 
he  says  of  every  believer,  "  And  I  will  raise  him  up  at 
the  last  day."  The  believer  says  of  him,  "  Who  loved 
me  and  gave  himself  for  me."  "  For  I  know  whom  I 
have  believed,  and  am  persuaded  that  he  is  able  to 
keep  that  which  I  have  committed  unto  him  against 
that  day." 

We  also  pray  to  the  Holy  Spirit,  in  whose  name  we 
were  baptized,  by  whom  we  were  convinced  of  sin  and 
led  to  Christ,  and  whose  relation  to  us  is  specially  set 
forth  by  the  terms,  "  communion  "  and  "  fellowship." 
We  prefer  particular  wants  to  Him,  ask  special  bles- 
sings of  Hijm,  receive  spiritual  mercies  from  Him ;  in 
short,  he  is  to  us,  as  the  Savior  promised,  •"  the  Com- 
forter," who  is  to  abide  with  us  forever.  And  while 
the  Son  and  the  Holy  Spirit  thus  occupy  most  en- 
deared relations  to  us,  the  Father  becomes  not  merely 
Deity,  but  as  his  own  peculiar  name  indicates,  our 
Father ;  a  name  which,  in  such  a  world  as  this,  has 
the  more  particular  significance    and  sweetness  as  ex- 

17 


194  PITTS-STREET    CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

pressing  a  relationship  to  us,  —  not  merely  that  of  God, 
but  of  Father, —  as  the  Savior  and  the  Comforter  each 
have  their  relations  to  us  in  the  work  of  redemption. 

One  word  of  explanation  may  be  useful  here  as  a 
relief  to  inquiring  minds.  We  find  that  the  Father  is 
uniformly  called  God.  We  suppose  that  it  is  the  di- 
vine arrangement  in  the  work  of  human  redemption 
that  the  idea  and  the  name  of  God  shall  prominently 
►associate  themselves  in  the  minds  of  men,  with  the 
Father,  as  distinguished  from  the  Son,  and  the  Holy 
Spirit,  —  these  holding  subordinate  offices  in  the  great 
plan.  Thus  associating  the  idea  and  name  of  God 
specially  with  the  Father,  we  are  saved  the  necessity 
of  trying  to  combine  the  Three  in  our  thoughts,  so  as 
to  make  them  One  to  our  conceptions.  We  therefore 
unhesitatingly  address  the  Father  as  God^  He  being 
ordinarily  so  designated  in  the  New  Testament.  And 
yet  we  remember  that  there  is  One  who  "was  in  the 
beginning  with  God,  and  was  God,"  and  One  also  who 
is  connected  with  them  both  in  acts  of  divine  worship; 
and,  moreover,  that  the  word  Father  is  often  used  to 
interpret  the  word  God^  in  cases  where  it  would  be 
utterly  superfluous,  if  the  Father  alone  were  divine. 

There  is  no  system  which  gives  us  such  views  of  the 
dignity  of  human  nature  as  our  evangelical  system.  It 
represents  human  nature  as  capable  of  union  with  the 
divine  nature,  in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ.     Our  na- 


DR.    ADAMS'    LECTURE.  195 

ture  can  think,  speak,  act,  and  exist  through  eternity,  in 
personal  union  with  the  "  Word  who  w^as  God."  What 
dignity  is  there  in  any  view  of  man,  to  be  compared 
with  this  ?  It  holds  out  to  every  human  being  the 
boundless  career  of  glory  which  is  before  our  nature, 
if  we  are  saved,  seeing  that  it  is  capable  of  being  pos- 
sessed forever  by  One  "  in  whom  dwelleth  all  the  ful- 
ness of  the  Godhead  bodily."  Surely,  if,  as  some  say, 
it  costs  us  painful  efforts,  (as  it  does  not  when  con- 
vinced of  our  guilt  and  our  need  of  a  divine  Savior,) 
to  believe  in  the  supreme  deity  of  Christ,  and  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  and  so  in  a  Trinity,  we  are  recompensed 
when  we  see  our  nature  in  such  personal,  nay,  bodily 
union  with  the  Divine  Word.  It  opens  to  the  heart  of 
the  believer  such  views  of  his  relation  to  his  God? 
draws  him  into  such  union  and  communion  with  Him, 
and  so  persuades  him,  as  nothing  else  can,  of  identifi- 
cation with  his  divine  Redeemer,  that  the  whole  circle 
of  natural  and  revealed  truth  furnishes  no  such  sources 
of  pleasure.  So  that  no  system  is  to  be  compared,  as  a 
source  of  happiness,  too,  with  that  which  makes  Jesus" 
Christ  the  object  of  divine  worship  and  supreme  love. 
Witness  the  hymns  which  it  has  produced,  surpassing 
all  other  lyrics  in  rapturous  thoughts  and  expressions. 
The  Congregational  Watts  has  to-day  filled  many 
temples  of  God,  wherever  the  English  language  is 
spoken,  with  his  glowing  strains.  Notice  how  his 
hymns  begin 


19G  pitts-strep:t  chapel  lectures. 

"  Behold  the  glories  of  the  Lamb 
Amidst  his  father's  throne  ; 
Prepare  new  honors  for  his  name, 
And  songs  before  unknown. 

Thou  hast  redeemed  our  souls  with  blood, 

Hast  set  the  prisoners  free ; 
Hast  made  us  kings  and  priests  to  God, 

And  we  shall  reign  with  thee." 

The  Methodist,  Charles  Wesley,  almost  his  rival, 
cries  : 

"  He  left  his  father's  throne  above. 
So  free,  so  infinite  his  grace ; 
Emptied  himself  of  all  but  love. 

And  bled  for  Adam's  helpless  race. 
'Tis  mercy  all,  immense  and  free, 
For,  O  my  God,  it  found  out  me." 

The  Baptist  Bunyan  comes  singing  through  the 
world,  in  every  language,  to  every  pilgrim  heaven- 
ward ;  and,  without  telling  us  how  he  was  baptized, 
or  how  we  must  be,  lifts  up  his  voice,  and  sings  : 

"  Blest  Cross  !  blest  Sepulchre  !  blest,  rather  be 
The  Man  who  there  was  put  to  shame  for  me." 

And  the  Episcopal  Heber  leads  great  Missionary 
assemblies  everywhere,  as  they  sing : 

"  Waft,  waft  ye  winds  his  story, 

Till  o'er  our  ransomed  nature 
The  Lamb  for  sinners  slain. 

Redeemer,  King,  Creator 
Eeturns  in  bliss  to  reign." 


DR.    ADAMS'    LECTURE.  197 

Nothing,  therefore,  is  further  from  the  truth  than  to 
call  evangelical  religion  "  a  gloomy  system."  On  the 
contrary,  to  all  who  enter  into  the  full  spirit  of  the  sys- 
tem, it  is  a  perfect  rapture.  Sin  and  death  are  gloomy ; 
redemption  from  them  is  not  so.  If  we  believe  all 
which  the  Bible  and  our  own  consciousness  and  obser- 
vation teach  us  respecting  the  entire  natuial  alienation 
of  man  from.  God,  and  his  need  of  divine  help,  we  are 
not  justly  chargeable  with  "  gloomy  views  "  for  dis- 
cerning and  promulgating  the  truths  relating  to  hu- 
man nature  and  redemption.  A  man  who  should  tell 
newly-discovered  islanders,  when  foreign  people  begin 
to  visit  their  shores,  of  the  disease  called  the  small 
pox,  and,  setting  forth  its  horrors,  should  urge  vaccina- 
tion, might  perhaps  be  charged  by  some  with  taking 
"  gloomy  views  "  of  human  life  ;  but  with  how  much 
reason  ? 

Not  only  does  our  faith  lead  us,  with  our  fellow  cit- 
izens generally,  to  bless  the  poor  and  afflicted  at  home  ; 
—  it  makes  the  world  of  mankind,  for  which  Christ 
died,  to  be  our  neighbors ;  —  and  having  a  gospel 
which  is  for  the  barbarian  as  well  as  for  the  Jew,  for 
the  wise  and  the  unwise,  we  seek  to  fulfil  the  last 
command  of  Christ,  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and 
preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature."  This  was  the 
original  character  of  the  gospel  —  it  was  essentially 
a  self-propagating  system  ;  and  we  may  be  sure, 
therefore,  that   they  who   have   the   true    gospel  will 

17* 


198  PITTS-STREET    CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

spread  it  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  It  is  this  system 
which  has  made  the  barbarous  Sandwich  Islanders  an 
independent  nation,  converted  South  Sea  cannibals 
and  Greenlanders,  the  Burmese,  and  Hottentots ;  and 
has  sent  to  heaven  representatives  from  every  nation 
and  tongue,  as  fruits  of  its  love  and  zeal. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  way  in  which  our  belief  in 
the  Divine  Redeemer  helps  the  human  mind  in  its 
thoughts  and  feelings  about  the  Deity,  I  will  speak  of 
one  who  was  distressed  at  the  thought  of  an  eternal, 
self-existent  God  ;  —  and  who,  at  times,  is  not  visited 
with  such  thoughts  ?  *'  How  came  He  ?  "  said  the 
inquirer.  "  What  made  it  possible  for  Him  to  be  ? 
Everything  else  had  a  beginning ;  how  could  He  exist 
always,  with  no  origin,  no  cause  ?  "  Then  he  would 
reprove  himself  for  irreverence  or  presumption ;  still 
these  thoughts  would  return.  One  day,  having  been 
much  troubled  on  the  subject,  he  said  to  himself,  "  I 
am  sure  of  one  thing,  and  that  is,  that  Jesus  Christ  is 
what  the  New  Testament  describes.  I  believe  in  his 
preexistence,  his  birth,  his  miracles,  his  omnipresence, 
his  omnipotence  ;  that  he  redeemed  me  and  will  save 
me.  The  Bible  tells  me, '  All  things  were  made  by  him.' 
He  who  made  me  is  my  God.  Whoever  else  may  be 
God,  he  is  God  to  me  ;  and  I  will  worship  him  as  my 
God,  and  let  go  all  my  troubled  thoughts  about  the 
infinite  and  eternal  Deity."     So   he  believed  in  the 


DR.    ADAMS'    LECTURE.  199 

Divine  Savior,  and  prayed  to  him,  and  committed  the 
keeping  of  his  soul  to  him  in  well-doing,  as  unto  a 
faithful  Creator,  till  at  last  his  mind  was  perfectly  at 
rest ;  and  whenever  the  thought  of  the  past  eternity  of 
God  began  to  oppress  him,  he  fled  to  the  manger  at 
Bethlehem,  and  to  Bethany,  and  to  Gethsemane,  and 
to  Calvary,  and  Olivet,  saying  to  his  Savior : 

"  Rock  of  Ages !  cleft  for  me, 
Let  me  hide  myself  in  thee." 

This  is  one  practical  illustration  of  the  design  in 
the  great  mystery  of  godliness  —  God  manifest  in  the 
flesh.  '  It  is  as  when  a  vine-dresser  adds  a  lower  rail 
to  the  trellis,  and  helps  the  young  tendrils  as  they 
reach  after  something  to  sustain  them.  The  Father 
will  not  be  jealous  if  we  thus  receive  Christ  as  Him 
"  in  whom  dwelleth  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead 
bodily."  Other  men  besides  this  friend  of  whom  I 
speak,  have  similar  experiences  with  regard  to  the  in- 
comprehensible Deity.     Dr.  Watts  tells  us, 

"  Till  God  in  human  flesh  I  see, 
My  thoughts  no  comfort  find." 

And  when  he  looks  within  the  vail,  he  says,  and 
Christians  of  every  name  on  earth  respond, 

•  "  There  I  l)ehold  with  sweet  delight. 

The  Sacred  Three  in  One ; 
And  strong  affections  fix  my  sight, 
On  God's  incarnate  Son." 


200  PITTS-STREET  CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

One  great  and  good  object  will  be  effected  by  the 
present  course  of  lectures,  if  it  be  established  in  our 
minds  that  the  Evangelical  sects  do  not  differ  as  to 
the  truths  which  are  essential  to  salvation.  On  that 
subject  they  are  a  unit.  But  we  are  all  weak  and 
sinful,  and  we  sometimes  unduly  magnify  our  party 
distinctions,  and  lose  sight  of  that  great  salvation 
which  is  independent  of  forms  and  names.  We  also 
are  tempted  to  engage  in  speculations.  We  specu- 
late, even,  about  the  nature  of  the  atonement,  and 
other  things,  when  we  should  all  do  better  to  preach 
and  teach  the  simple  truths  of  the  vicarious  sacrifice 
of  Christ,  and  the  necessity  of  the  new  birth,  and 
warn  men  of  their  danger  as  sinners,  and  point  them 
to  Christ.  We  need  to  ask  pardon  of  God  and  our 
fellow  men,  that  sectarian  zeal  should  ever  chill  our 
love  to  one  another,  and  prevent  us  from  exalting  the 
things  in  which  we  agree,  and  keeping  those  things  in 
which  we  differ  in  their  proper  place.  We  trust  that 
the  present  effort  will  lead  us  all  to  determine  afresh 
not  to  know  anything  but  Christ  and  him  crucified ; 
and  in  our  endeavors  to  set  forth  the  peculiarities  of 
our  respective  systems,  to  do  it  with  Christian  love 
and  charity,  abstaining  from  everything  like  sarcasm, 
and  ridicule,  or  reflecting  upon  the  understanding  or 
the  motives  of  others,  but  seeking  to  convince  and 
persuade  each  other,  if  we  may;  but,  above  all  things, 


DR,   AEAMS'   LECTURE.  201 

combining  to  make  Christ  and  his  salvation  the  Alpha 
and  the  Omega  of  our  ministrations. 

There  are  some  who  have  not  yet  united  themselves 
to  any  evangelical  denomination,  who,  nevertheless, 
may  secretly  have  embraced  the  way  of  salvation  by 
Jesus  Christ.  Instead  of  saying,  "  Forbid  them,  be- 
cause they  follow  not  with  us,"  we  say,  in  the  words 
of  Jesus,  "  Forbid  them  not,  for  he  that  is  not  against 
us  is  on  our  part."  We  shall  none  of  us  be  saved  or 
lost,  merely  for  belonging,  or  not  belonging,  to  any 
particular  denomination.  But  this  is  true,  that  no  one 
can  experimentally  accept  the  truths  of  the  Savior's 
supreme  deity,  and  of  his  sacrifice  for  sin,  and  yet 
leave  the  Christian  community  long  in  doubt  where  he 
stands.  To  worship  Christ  as  God,  and  to  believe  in 
deliverance  from  sin  and  eternal  misery  through  Him, 
so  affects  the  mind  that,  like  the  Apostles,  we  cannot 
but  speak  the  things  which  we  have  seen  and  heard. 
"  And  being  let  go,  they  went  to  their  own  company." 
This  is  a  law  of  our  nature.  We  associate  with  those 
of  our  own  kind ;  in  politics  we  may  belong  to  no 
party,  but  in  religion  we  show  the  state  of  our  hearts 
quickly  by  our  religious  associations.  Jesus  Christ 
has  a  definite  character.  He  is  one  thing  or  another. 
He  is  deity,  or  he  is  a  creature,  between  whom,  if  he 
be  a  creature,  however  exalted,  and  deity,  there  is  an 
infinite  distance.      If  one  would  fly  ninety-six   mil- 


202  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

lions  of  miles  to  the  sun,  it  would  make  but  little 
difference  whether  he  started  from  the  plain  or  from 
the  Himalaya  Mountains.  The  difference  between 
the  most  exalted  creature  and  God  is  as  really  infinite 
as  between  us  and  God.  The  most  exalted  creature 
is  only  a  creature.  Some  who  are  disposed  to  walk 
after  the  evangelical  faith,  stumble  at  the  great  stum- 
bling block  of  Christ  crucified.  They  find  it  hard  to 
place  the  Savior  on  the  throne,  but  prefer  to  leave  him 
very  far  up  in  the  regions  of  uncertainty.  For  such 
friends  we  sometimes  think  that  the  New  Testament 
ends  with  that  passage  concerning  Christ,  in  the  first 
chapter  of  the  Acts,  "  And  a  cloud  received  him  out 
of  their  sight." 

The  Apostles  were  not  mystics ;  they  left  no  man 
in  doubt  as  to  their  opinions  concerning  Christ;  the 
churches  had  no  occasion  to  debate  whether  one  and 
another  of  them  was  sound  as  to  his  views  of  Him  for 
whom  they  had  suffered  the  loss  of  all  things.  It  was 
not  the  Apostles'  doctrine  that  there  are  many  ways  to 
heaven,  as  there  are  many  railroads  leading  to  a  great 
city  from  opposite  points,  but  all  terminating  in  the 
same  city.  They  insisted  that  there  was  but  one  way 
to  be  saved. 

There  is,  therefore,  a  test  of  truth  which  we  can  easily 
remember  and  apply  in  hearing  the  preachers  of  differ- 
ent denominations,  and  in  deciding  whom  to  believe. 


DR.    ADAMS'    LECTURE.  203 

While  it  does  not  follow  that  every  system  declaring  a 
belief  in  itself  to  be  essential  to  salvation,  is,  for  that 
reason,  the  truth  of  God,  we  find  this  to  be  true,  that 
Christ  and  the  apostles  declared  that  a  belief  in  the 
gospel  was  necessary  in  order  to  be  saved.  Hence 
we  conclude,  that  if  a  man  professes  to  preach  the  gos- 
pel to  us,  and  does  not  insist  that  there  is  something  in 
his  system  which  we  must  believe,  or  perish,  he  does 
not  preach  Christ's  gospel.  If  he  says.  All  systems 
have  some  good  in  them  and  you  must  cull  for  your- 
self, only  be  sincere ; 

"  For  forms  of  faith,  let  senseless  zealots  fight, 
He  can't  be  wrong  whose  life  is  in  the  right ; " 

and  it  is  bigotry  for  me  to  say  that  you  must  believe 
this  which  I  preach  to  you,  or  perish ;  —  if  he  speaks 
thus,  all  men,  even  the  worst,  are  straightway  war- 
ranted in  saying  to  him,  as  the  evil  spirits,  in  Paul's 
time,  had  the  discernment  to  say  to  certain  false  teach- 
ers, "Jesus  I  know,  and  Paul  I  know,  but  who  are  ye?" 
We  require  him  to  say  to  us,  if  he  professes  to  preach 
the  gospel.  There  are  things  in  my  system  which 
you  may  receive  or  reject,  and  though  I  consider  them 
to  be  scriptural,  and  good,  and  profitable  unto  men, 
you  may  innocently  follow  me,  or  my  neighbor,  who  dif- 
fers from  me  in  these  things.  There  are,  nevertheless, 
some  things  in  my  system  which  you  must  believe  ; 
and  I  have  no  authority  to  say  that  you  will  be  saved 


204  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL  LECTURES. 

unless  you  do.  My  everlasting  all  I  venture  upon  the 
truth  of  these  things.  I  must  believe  these  things  or 
perish.  I  believe  that  you  must  do  the  same.  A  man 
who  says  this  has  one  essential  proof  that  he  preaches 
Christ's  gospel.  For  this  is  what  Christ  did,  and  the 
apostles.  We  therefore  try  men  who  preach  to  us,  by 
this  rule.  If  you  insist  that  you  have  a  gospel  which 
is  essential  to  salvation,  we  will  listen  to  it ;  but  if  it 
be  not  essential  to  salvation  whether  we  believe  you  or 
those  who  in  every  thing  differ  from  you,  the  gospel 
which  you  preach  is  another  gospel,  and  the  charitable 
Paul  —  he  who  wrote  those  remarkable  words  to  the 
Corinthian  Christians  on  charity,  tells  us,  "  Though  we 
or  an  angel  from  heaven  preach  any  other  gospel  unto 
you  than  that  which  we  have  preached  unto  you,  let 
him  be  accursed."  In  the  next  words  he  repeats  the 
same  imprecation,  to  show  that  he  speaks  with  de- 
liberation :  "  As  we  said  before,  so  say  I  now  again,  if 
any  man  preach  any  other  gospel  unto  you  than  that 
ye  have  received,  let  him  be  accursed."*  There  are 
some  things,  therefore,  about  which  no  man  can  prop- 
erly be  what  is  called  "  liberal " ;  he  must  be  strict,  he 
must  be  exclusive,  in  matters  of  life  and  death.  A 
physician  or  surgeon  can  be  liberal  in  everything  but 
in  his  opinion  of  the  disease  or  fracture  ;  there  he  must 
be  decided ;  but  if  he  stands  over  us  and,  with  an 

*  Galatians,  i :  8,  9. 


DR.   ADAMS'   LECTURE.  205 

amiable  face,  hopes  that  all  will  be  weU,  and  declines 
to  act  with  decision,  and  vigorously,  lest  it  should  seem 
like  professional  bigotry,  he  is  an  object  of  abhorrence. 
The  lukewarm  Laodiceans  teach  us  what  -feelings  in- 
decision in  religion  excite  in  the  mind  of  Christ. 
Therefore  we  say  to  those  who  preach  to  us.  You  must 
warn  us  that  we  must  believe  the  gospel  as  you  preach 
it,  or  we  must  perish.  Apply  it,  if  you  will,  to  your 
"  infant  baptism,"  or  your  "  immersion,"  or  your  "  per- 
fectability,"  or  your  "  apostolical  succession,"  and  tell 
us  that  "  he  that  believeth  not  shall  not  see  life,  but  ij^e 
wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him."  Bring  yourself  and 
your  gospel  to  that  test.  You  will  not,  you  cannot, 
erect  non-essentials  into  a  condition  of  salvation,  if  you 
are  like  Christ  and  the  apostles.  But,  if  you  have  noth- 
ing in  your  system  which  you  are  able  thus  to  insist 
upon  as  essential  to  salvation,  and  if,  notwithstanding, 
you  profess  to  be  a  minister  of  Jesus,  you  are  ashamed 
of  the  gospel,  and  we  have  reason  to  be  ashamed  of 
you,  and  we  fear  that  Christ  will  be  ashamed  of  you 
before  his  Father  and  before  his  angels. 

Whatever  others  may  believe,  and  whatever  else 
may  be  true.  Evangelical  Christians,  if  they  truly  fol- 
low their  belief,  are  safe.  K  there  be  no  atonement 
for  sin,  they  are  safe.  If  there  be  no  retributions  after 
death,  they  are  safe. 

But  suppose  that  there  is  only  one  way  in  which  we 

18 


206  PITTS-STREET  CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

are  forgiven  and  saved ;  suppose  that  the  consequences 
of  unpardoned  sin  are  banishment  from  God,  and  that 
there  is  no  probation  after  death.  We  have  fled  for 
refuge  to  lay  hold  on  the  hope  set  before  us.  And  now 
we  do  not  turn  and  say  to  our  fellow  men,  You  must 
believe  as  we  do  because  we  thus  believe,  or  you 
cannot  be  saved.  But  we  do  say,  "We  do  not  expect  to 
be  saved  but  in  this  way.  And  it  is  not  unkind  in  us, 
either  in  temporal  or  eternal  things,  to  desire  that  our 
fellow  men  should  be  partakers  of  that  on  which  our 
hopes  depend. 

Another  thing  which  confirms  us  in  our  confident 
attachment  to  the  evangelical  system  is,  that  we  never 
heard  of  its  being  renounced  on  a  dying  bed.  We 
have  personal  knowledge  of  instances  in  which  every 
other  system  has  been  abjured  in  the  last  hours  of 
life,  for  the  atoning  sacrifice  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
It  is  an  unheard  of  thing  for  a  dying  person  to  say, 
I  used  to  believe  in  the  Savior's  sufferings  and  death 
as  the  ground  of  pardon  and  acceptance  with  God. 
But  now  that  I  am  dying,  such  a  Savior  is  not  the 
Savior  which  I  need.  This  we  never  hear.  But  the 
ministers  of  every  evangelical  persuasion  testify  to 
casfes  in  which  dying  persons  have  fled  for  refuge 
to  the  atoning  Savior.  Men  are  exceedingly  apt  to 
call  on  Christ  in  their  extremity.  Sea  captains  have 
spoken   of  this.     David   Hume  played  cards  a  short 


DR.   ADAMS'   LECTURE.  207 

time  before  he  died,  having  been  fixed  in  his  chair  for 
the  purpose,  with  the  determination  of  meeting  death 
*'like  a  philosopher."  But  as  the  cold  shadows  of 
the  valley  fell  upon  him,  he  needed  a  rod  and  staff 
to  comfort  him,  and  he  cried,  "  Lord  Jesus,  have  mercy 
upon  me,  Jesus  Christ  save  me."  It  was  related  in  my 
hearing  by  one*  who  said  that  he  heard  it  directly 
from  a  nurse  who  attended  Thomas  Paine  in  his  last 
hours,  that  she  overheard  him  commending  his  soul  to 
the  Savior,  —  "God  help  me,  O  thou  Son  of  God, 
have  mercy  upon  me."  In  the  hour  of  sickness  and 
weakness,  the  Almighty  Redeemer,  with  his  divine 
attributes  and  his  human  sympathies,  seems  to  be 
just  such  a  Savior  as  we  need.  We  love  in  health 
and  strength  to  trust  in  him,  as  well  as  in  the  swell- 
ings of  Jordan.  We  wish  our  fellow  men  to  do  the 
same. 

And  now,  if  any  will  accept  that  which  has  been  de- 
clared to  be,  substantially,  the  evangelical  system, 
while  we  invite  them  cordially  to  come  with  us  into 
that  form  of  church  order  which  is  represented  by 
New  England  Congregationalism,  we  do  also  most 
cordially  bid  them  take  their  choice,  and  go  to  eithei 
of  these  evangelical  denominations,  to  labor  with  us 
for  Christ,  and  to  be  trained  up  for  heaven ;  where  we 

*  Washington  Allston. 


208  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

shall  surely  meet  them,  like  friends  ascending  by  the 
different  sides  of  the  same  hill  to  keep  a  festival  on 
the  summit.  There  are  three  times  when  all  the  mem- 
bers of  these  evangelical  sects  think  and  feel  alike  on 
the  subject  of  religion :  When  they  first  receive  the 
pardon  of  their  sins ;  when  they  are  on  their  knees  to- 
gether in  prayer ;  and  when  they  are  dying.  The  faith 
which  they  have  in  those  moments  is  one  and  the 
same,  in  all  languages  and  in  all  climes  ;  they  all  de- 
clare that  it  is  essential  to  their  salvation,  and  to  yours. 

"With  Christian  salutations,  and  giving  the  right 
hand  of  fellowship,  to  all  who  love  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  in  sincerity,  I  will  now  close  by  repeating  some 
lines  of  an  eminent  New  England  Congregational 
pastor,  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Mitchell,  of  Cambridge, 
who  died  in  1668,  of  whom  it  was  said  that  "all  New 
England  shook  when  that  pillar  fell  to  the  ground." 
The  lines  are  part  of  an  elegy  which  he  made  upon 
President  Dunster,  of  Harvard  College,  with  whom 
Mr.  Mitchell  and  others  had  had  great  and  serious 
differences  of  opinion  as  to  the  proper  subjects  of  bap- 
tism. But  when  he  died,  Mr.  Mitchell  wrote  an  elegy 
upon  him,  containing  these  thoughts  and  feelings, 
which  we  ourselves  shall  severally  have  as  we  hear  of 
the  decease  of  one  and  another  of  those  from  whom 
we  differ  in  unessential  things,  and  when  we,  also,  are 
on  the  verge  of  heaven : 


V 


DR.    ADAMS'   LECTURE.  209 

"  Where  faith  in  Jesus  is  sincere, 

That  soul^e,  saving,  pardoneth  ;  — 
What  wants  or  errors  else  there  be 

That  may  and  do  consist  herewith  ; 

And  though  we  be  imperfect  here 
And  in  one  mind  can't  often  meet. — 

Who  know  in  part,  in  part  may  err ; 
Though  faith  be  one,  yet  all  can't  see't. 

Yet  may  we  once  the  rest  obtain 

In  everlasting  bliss  above, 

.  Where  Christ  with  perfect  saints  doth  reign, 

In  perfect  light  and  perfect  love ;  —  ♦ 

I 

There  shall  we  all  like-minded  be  ; 

Faith's  unity  is  there  full  grown  ; 

There,  one  truth  all  both  love  and  see, 

And  thence  we  perfect  are  in  one. 

There  Luther  both,  and  Zuinglius, 

Ridley  and  Hooper,  there  agree  ; 
There  all  the  trulv  righteous, 

Sans  Feud,  live  to  eternity." 

Now    THE    God    of    Peace    that    brought    again 

FROM      the      dead      OUR       LoRD      JeSUS,      THAT       GrEAT 

Shepherd  of  the  sheep,  through  the  blood  of  the 
everlasting  covenant,  make  you  perfect  in  every 
good  work  to  do  his  will  ;  working  in  you  that 
which  is  well  pleasing  in  his  sight,  through 
Jesus  Christ  ;  to  whom  be  glory  for  ever  and 
EVER.     Amen. 


FIFTH  LECTURE. 


REV.  GEORGE  M.  RANDALL,  D.D., 

RECTOR    OF    THE    CHURCH    OF    THE    MESSIAH, 
FLORENCE    STREET. 


211 


Y. 

WHY    I    AM    A    CHURCHMAN. 


"  Thus  saith  the  lokd,  stand  ye  in  the  ways,  and  see,  and  abz 

FOR  THE  OLD   PATHS."  —  Jer.   VI..  16. 

"Hold  fast  the  form  of  sound  words."  —  2  Tim.  i,  13. 
"  The  CHURCH  of  the  living  god,  the  pillar  and  ground  of  the 
TRUijp."  — 1  Tim.  III.  15. 

The  object  of  this  discourse  is  to  indicate  the  dis- 
tinctive principles  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church. 
The  enunciation  of  these  is  a  sufficient  answer  to  the 
question :  Why  I  am  a  Churchman,  —  and  cannot 
preach  the  Gosr)el  in  any  other  ecclesiastical  organiza- 
tion. 

There  is,  and  since  the  days  of  Abraham,  there  ever 
has  been,  such  a  thing,  on  the  Earth,  as  the  Church  of 
God.  He  originated  it,  —  He  governs  and  protects 
it.  It  is  His  instrumentality  for  the  reformation, — 
the  regeneration  and  the  salvation  of  a  fallen  world. 
It  is  that  kingdom,  which  Christ  has  promised  to  be 
with,  to  the  end  of  time,  and  against  which,  the  gates 
of  hell  shall  never  prevail.  God  wrote  its  constitu- 
tion, appointed  and    commissioned  its  officers.      As 


214  PITTS-STREET  CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

man  did  not  originate  this  organization,  so  he  can 
neither  abrogate  nor  modify  it.  He  can  neither  estab- 
lish the  terms  of  admission  nor  clothe  its  rulers  with 
power.  If  then,  the  church  in  its  origin  and  authority 
is  in  no  sense  human^  —  and  is  in  every  sense  divine, 
we  must  look  for  its  features,  in  the  only  book,  where 
God  has  written  out  His  will,  touching  the  salvation 
of  men.  That  Book  is  the  Bible.  Here,  if  any  where, 
must  we  find  the  charter  of  the  church.  Here,  the 
boundaries  of  this  great  kingdom  are  defined.  Here 
the  titles  and  the  functions  of  its  ©fficers,  —  their  au- 
thority and  their  duties  are  declared. 
♦The  world  is  divided  into  two  great  classes :  those 
who  are  within  this  kingdom,  and  those  who  are  with- 
out it.  There  is  no  neutrality  in  the  great  contest  be- 
tween a  righteous  God  and  a  rebellious  world.  Every 
man  is  either  an  adopted  citizen  in  this  great  com- 
monwealth of  grace,  or  he  is  an  alien.  "  They  who 
are  not  for  me  are  against  Him,"  is  the  declaration  of 
Christ. 

The  lines  which  mark  the  boundaries  of  God's  King- 
dom, have  been  drawn  by  His  own  finger,  for  the  dark- 
ened eye  of  the  sinner.  This  fact,  of  itsfelf,  is  suffi- 
cient to  warrant  the  conclusion,  that  this  demarkation 
is  so  distinct  and  definite,  that  "  the  way-faring  man, 
tho'  a  fool,  need  not  err  therein,"  and  "-he  that  runs 
may  read."  The  church  then  is  God's  Kingdom  on 
earth,  protected  and  preserved  by  the  abidmg  power 


DR.    RANDALL'S   LECTURE.  215 

of  His  own  promised  presence,  and  may  be  as  readily 
recognised  by  the  description  contained  in  the  Script- 
ures, as  any  earthly  kingdom  may  be  known  by  its 
Constitution  and  Statute  Book.  If  there  be  "  no  other 
name  given  among  men,  whereby  we  must  be  saved," 
but  the  name  of  Christy  and  the  church  is  "  Christ's 
mystical  body,"  then  it  follows,  that  the  sinner  must 
know,  where^  as  well  as  lioiv  to  look  for  refuge,  from 
the  power  and  penalty  of  sin.  He  is  not  to  be  sent  in 
search  of  an  invisible  ark. 

The  Israelites  knew  when  they  crossed  the  line,  and 
entered  "  the  promised  land."  The  penitent  prodigal 
knew  when  his  father  kissed  him,  —  and  when  his 
trembling  feet  crossed  the  threshold  of  that  father's 
house. 

God  made  a  covenant  with  Abraham,  and  with  his 
seed,  and  with  nobody  else.  This  covenant  was  sim- 
ple. The  seal  was  definite.  The  conditions  were  ex- 
plicit. All  who  received  the  seal,  were  thereby  made 
parties  to  the  covenant,  and  all,  who  were  in  the  cov- 
enant, were  in  the  church,  and  all  who  were  out  of  the 
covenant,  were  out  of  the  church.  From  Abraham  to 
Christ  no  person  could  mistake  the  Church  of  God. 
No  intelligent  man  could  be  at  a  loss  where  to  find 
this  divinely  ordained  society. 

From  Moses  to  John,  it  was  equally  plain  who  were 
the  administrators  of  this  kingdom ;  by  whom  ap- 
pointed, —  their  authority  and  their  functions. 


216  PITTS-STREET  CHAPEL  LECTURES. 

God  chose  the  tribe  of  Levi,  as  the  ministerial  tribe. 
Of  them,  He  took  the  family  of  Aaron,  as  the  priestly 
family ;  of  these,  He  selected  one  for  the  high  priest- 
hood. Thus  was  the  church  of  Jehovah  furnished 
with  a  ministry,  whose  authority  came  with  the  great 
seal  of  heaven.  And  although  this  priesthood  did  not 
always  please  a  Holy  God,  yet  no  other  class  of  men, 
however  learned  or  godly,  were  permitted  to  perform 
their  sacred  duties.*  Thus  were  the  people  saved  from 
all  confusion  in  their  inquiries  for  the  church,  and  for 
the  divinely  ordained  men,  who,  alone,  were  empow- 
ered to  offer  sacrifices  in  behalf  of  the  people,  and  to 
teach  them  the  way  of  life. 

In  the  fullness  of  time,  God  Himself  descended 
from  His  throne  to  His  foot-stool.  Here  he  lived  as  a 
man,  among  men.  "  He  came  not  to  destroy,  but  to 
fulfill."  His  mission  was  to  complete  the  plan  of  re- 
demption. It  was  no  part  of  His  gracious  errand,  to 
abrogate  His  own  church.  There  never  had  been  but 
one  church,  and  there  never  was  to  be  but  one. 

"  He  brought  life  and  immortality  to  light ;"  fulfilled 
prophecy ;  became  the  embodiment  of  all  types  and 
figures ;  put  an  end  to  all  sacrifices  by  the  sacrifice 
of  Himself.  He  changed  the  seal^  but  left  the  cove- 
nant itself  untouched.  The  "  tree  "  which  He  had 
planted,  remained,  though  "the  natural  branches  were 

*  Numbers  xvi. 


DR.  kandall's  lecture.  217 

broken  oftV  and  the  branches  of  "  the  wild  olive  tree 
were  graffed  in."  *    • 

The  Jewish  church  had  the  Scriptures.,  —  the  Priest- 
hood and  the  Ordinances,  By  these  it  was  every 
where  and  by  all  known,  as  "  the  church  of  the  living 
God." 

In  Christ  the  Levitical  Priesthood  found  its  comple- 
ment. In  Him  that  Priesthood  ended,  and  with  it,  the 
sacrificial  services  of  the  Temple. 

From  Christ,  the  Great  High  Priest,  went  forth  the 
Gospel,  and  from  Him  went  forth  the  commission  to 
men,  to  preach  it,  and  to  administer  its  ordinances. 
There  was  no  break  in  the  great  chain  of  grace.  The 
covenant  continued  as  in  the  beginning.  The  old 
church  was  not  pulled  down,  that  a  new  one  might  be 
built  up.  The  Kingdom  of  Christ  was  to  be  known, 
as  the  Mosaic  Church  was  known,  by  the  Word.,  —  the 
Ministry  and  the  Ordinances.  Wherever  these  were, 
there  was  "  the  Church  of  the  living  God,  the  pillar 
and  ground  of  the  Truth."  If  the  dark  line  of  the 
"  Law  "  was  sufficiently  distinct,  to  mark  the  pale  of 
the  Jewish  Church,  much  more  clearly  would  the 
bright  borders  of  Christ's  Kingdom  be  defined,  by  the 
shining  of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness.  It  would,  in- 
deed, be  most  extraordinary,  if  the  Church  of  Christ 
should    be  invisible.,  when  "the  darkness  was    past" 

*  Horn.  XI.,  17-24. 


218  PITTS-STREET    CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

and  the  "  True  Light^^  was  now  shining  in  all  its  un- 
eclipsed  splendor.*  If  there  were  certain  infallible 
marks,  by  which  the  Legal  Church  was  to  be  iden- 
tified, it  would  be  more  than  marvellous,  if  there  were 
not  marks  equally  infallible,  by  which  erring  men 
might  fmerringly  distinguish  the  Gospel  Church,  from 
every  form  of  human  society. 

Christ  appointed  and  sent  forth,  twelve  men,  whom 
He  denominated  His  Apostles,  —  as  the  Chief  Minis- 
ters in  His  church ;  investing  them  with  authority  to 
preach  His  Gospel,  administer  the  Sacraments,  and 
exercise  discipline,  in  His  Kingdom.  He  moreover 
authorized  them  to  send  others,  in  His  name,  with  like 
powers.  He  also  sent  forth  the  "  Seventy,^^  to  preach 
His  Word.f  Here  then,  as  under  the  Old  Dispen- 
sation, we  find  three  grades  of  the  Ministry:  Christy 
the  Apostles,  and  the  Elders  or  the  "  Seventy.''^ 

On  the  night  of  the  Savior's  betrayal.  He  instituted 
the  Sacrament  of  the  Lord^s  Supper.  Just  before  His 
ascension.  He  gave  to  His  Apostles  their  great  com- 
mission, "to  go  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the 
Gospel  to  every  creature,  baptizing  them  in  the  name 
>f  the  Holy  Trinity,"  J  Their  authority  to  go,  and 
send  others,  came  to  them  in  these  words  which  con- 
stituted a  commission  that  can  never  expire,  until  the 
Church  has  done  its  work  in  the  •  conversion  of  the 

*  "  One  net  "  Matt,  xiii.,  47,  48.  —  "  One  field.''  —  24-31 . 
t  Luke  X.  1  X  Matt,  xxviii.  18,  19,  20 


DR.    RANDALL'S   LECTURE.  219 

world :  "  As  my  Father  hath  sent  me^  even  so  send  1 

Christ  did  not  call  His  Disciples  together  and  or- 
ganize them  into  a  Church,  and  then  direct  and  em- 
power them  to  elect  and  ordain  their  own  ministers. 
He  did  not  do  thus,  because  these  ministers  were  His 
ministers  —  the  ministers  of  God;  and  their  success- 
ors, to  the  end  of  the  world,  were  to  be  His  ministers, 
deriving  all  their  power  and  authority  as  such  from 
Him,  and  from  Him  alone.  In  accordance  with  this 
commission,  the  Apostles,  soon  after  the  ascension  of 
the  Savior,  proceeded  to  ordain  a  class  of  ministers, 
called  Deacons^  whom  they  empowered  to  preach  and 
baptize.f  Here  again  appears  the  threefold  ministry : 
Apostles^  Presbyters  and  Deacons.  Why  God  saw  fit 
to  have  High  Priests^  Priests  and  Levites  in  the  Jewish 
Church,  it  is  not  for  us  to  say.  It  might  have  pleased 
Him  to  have  appointed  one  order,  and  in  that  case, 
one  order  would  have  been  enough.  But  for  wise 
reasons,  He  saw  fit  to  have  three,  and  therefore  neither 
one  order  nor  two  orders  would  have  answered  the 
end  of  the  Priesthood.  This  matter  of  the  Threefold 
Priesthood  was  not  a  notion  of  Moses,  but  a  fiat  of 
God.  Why  Christ  saw  fit  to  establish  a  similar 
numerical  distinction  in  the  ministry  of  the  Church,  I 
do  not  know.  All  we  know  about  it  is  the  fact,  and 
that  is  all  we  need  to  know. 

*John,  XX.  21,  t  Acts  Yi.  3^6.     1  Tim.  in.  8,  10-13. 


220  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

The  Savior  was  on  the  earth  for  the  space  of  forty 
days  after  His  resurrection  and  before  His  ascension. 
During  this  period,  He  instructed  His  inspired  Apostles 
in  matters  pertaining  to  His  Kingdom.  Christ  prom- 
ised that  the  Comforter,  which  was  the  Holy  Ghost, 
when  received  would  teach  them  all  things.*  He  told 
them  to  remain  in  Jerusalem  until  they  had  received 
the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghostf  On  the  day  of  Pen- 
tecost, the  spirit  was  poured  out  upon  them. J  While 
they  were  yet  inspired  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  so 
were  taught  by  it,  they  ordained  men  to  the  third  or 
lowest  order  of  the  ministry.§  This  distinction  was, 
therefore,  not  a  mere  fancy  of  the  Apostles.  It  was 
the  revealed  mind  of  the  Great  Head  of  the  Church, 
in  beautiful  harmony  with  the  mind  of  the  unchange- 
able God,  as  it  had  been  heard  and  heeded  by  "  Moses 
and  the  prophets."  For  aught  we  know,  one  order  of 
the  ministry  in  the  Christian  Church  might  have  been 
as  good  as  three,  and  it  certainly  would  have  been  as 
good,  if  Christ  had  seen  fit  so  to  ordain.  But  He  was 
pleased  to  appoint  three  orders,  and  therefore  neither 
one  nor  two  are  or  can  be  sufficient. 

It  is  to  be  observed,  that  all  this  occurs  before  the 
New  Testament  was  written,  and  before  the  Christian 
church  had  any  organization,  except  in  its  ministry, 
The  ministry  had  its  mission  and  its  commission  from 

*^  John  xiY.  26.  t  Acts  I.  4,  5.  J  Acts  ii.  §  Acts  vi. 


DR.    RANDALL'S   LECTURE.  221 

Christ,  before  the  church  had  any  organic  form  what- 
ever. 

Here  was  the  church  of  Christ:  a  kingdom  on  earth; 
divisible  kingdom  among  men;  for  here  was  the  word; 
the  written  word  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  the  unwrit- 
ten word  of  the  New  Testament.  Here  were  the  Sac- 
raments, and  here  was  the  Ministry.  This  was  the 
Christian  Church,  and  nothing  else  was.  None  mis- 
took it;  none  could  mistake  it.  The  believers  readily 
recognized  it,  and  entered  it ;  and  the  enemies  of  God 
had  no  difficulty  in  finding  it,  that  they  might  perse- 
cute it.  Here  was  a  Christian  ministry  with  their 
commissions  fresh  from  God.  Here  was  the  seal  of 
the  covenant,  direct  from  the  hand  of  Christ.  Here, 
then,  was  the  line  drawn  by  the  finger  of  God,  around 
the  kingdom  of  his  Son,  which  marked,  with  living 
light,  the  boundaries  which  separated  it  from  the  king- 
dom of  darkness,  and  from  all  organizations  of  men, 
for  all  future  ages.  The  hand  of  the  Almighty  wrote 
over  "  the  narrow  gate  "  of  that  kingdom,  in  letters 
bright  and  bold  enough  to  be  read  of  all  men,  this 
sentence  :  "  Except  a  man  be  born  of  water,  and  of  the 
Spirit,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  king-dom  of  God.^^* 
This  language  is  sufficiently  plain,  and  exclusive,  and 
uncompromising,  to  mark  the  perpetual  distinction 
between  the  church  and  the  world.     That  these  three 

*  John  III.  5. 
19* 


222  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

orders  were  to  be  continued  in  the  church,  and  were  to 
constitute  the  Christian  ministry,  for  all  time  to  come, 
and  were  to  go  hand  in  hand  with  the  word  and  the 
sacraments,  thereby  identifying  the  Christian  church 
throughout  the  earth,  is  evident  from  the  history  of 
the  church,  in  the  apostolic  age. 

The  original  number  of  the  twelve  apostles  was 
made  good  by  the  appointment  of  Matthias  in  place 
of  Judas.*  The  objection  that  the  office  of  an  apostle 
was  a  temporary  one,  instituted  solely  for  the  work  of 
laying  the  foundation  of  the  church,  and  was  therefore 
confined  to  the  twelve,  is  effectually  silenced  by  the 
fact  that  others  were  added  to  this  number,  and  that 
too,  before  the  canon  of  the  New  Testament  was 
completed  Thus  the  miraculous  conversion  of  St. 
Paul,  and  his  appointment  to  the  first  order  of  the 
ministry  immediately,  by  Christ  himse^,  proves  con- 
clusively that  the  Order  of  the  Apostles  was  not  to  be 
limited  to  the  college  of  the  twelve,  since  he  was  the 
thirteenth  Apostle.  Barnabas  was  also  set  apart  to  the 
work  of  an  Apostle,  and  he  made  the  fourteenth.  And 
although  one  qualification  of  the  first  Apostles  was, 
that  they  should  have  seen  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and 
so  be  witnesses  of  His  resurrection,  which  was  of  ne- 
cessity confined  to  them  as  the  Apostles,  who  were 
rommissioned  to  lay  the  foundation  of  the  church,  yet 

*  Acts  I. 


DR.    RANDALL'S   LECTURE.  223 

the  power  of  their  office,  the  commission  which  they 
had  received  from  Christ,  was  transmissable,  and  so 
others,  by  receiving  it,  would  be  admitted  to  the  rank 
of  an  Apostle.  Hence  St.  Paul  ordained  Titus  to  the 
office  of  an  Apostle,  although  he  had  never  seen 
Christ,  and  was  not,  therefore,  a  witness  of  his  resur- 
rection, and  as  such  empowered  him  to  ordain  elders  in 
every  city.*  He  moreover  conseci^ted  Timothy  to  the 
apostleship,  and  the  churches  in  Ephesus  were  plactd 
in  his  charge,  f  These  Apostles  thus  ordained  and 
"  sent,"  had  the  power  to  ordain  and  send  forth  others, 
clothed  with  the  like  office  and  ministry.  Their  com- 
mission included,  of  course,  the  power  to  ordain  men 
to  the  second  and  third  *  orders.  All  this  is  a  matter 
of  New  Testament  record.  In  the  succeeding  age, 
as  we  learn  from  ecclesiastical  history,  wherever  the 
gospel  was  preached,  there  was  found  this  three-fold 
ministry,  with  the  word  and  the  sacraments  ;  and  the 
Christian  church  appears  in  no  other  form. 

In  the  New  Testament,  the  word  "  Bishop,"  which 
means  an  ^'' overseer^''  is  applied  to  the  second  order  of 
the  ministry,  interchangeably,  with  the  word  "  pres- 
bijterP  Very  soon  after  the  death  of  the  first  apostles, 
this  title,  "  Bisliop^^  was  applied  to  the  order  of  the 
apostles,  or  the  highest  grade  of  the  ministry,  leaving 
the  original  title  of   apostle  to  designate  those,  who 

*  Titus  I.,  5.  tNoteC. 


224  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

were  eye-witnesses  of  Christ's  resurrection.  Within 
ten  years  after  the  death  of  St.  John,  who  died  in  a.  d. 
100,  the  three  orders  of  the  ministry  were  designated 
BISHOPS,  PRIESTS,  and  DEACONS.  Ignatius,  who  was  a 
disciple  of  St.  John,  and  who  was  made  bishop  of 
Antioch  by  apostles  then  living,  and  who  sealed  his 
faith  in  the  blood  of  martyrdom,  in  less  than  ten  years 
after  the  death  of  ^t.  John,  thus  speaks  :  "  Attend  to 
the  bishop,  and  to  the  presbytery,  and  to  the  dea- 
cons." * 

The  church  rapidly  spread  in  Asia,  Africa,  and 
Europe.  St.  Thomas  travelled  as  far  east  as  India. 
St.  Mark  preached  in  Egypt,  and  founded  the  church 
at  Alexandria.  St.  Peter  carried  the  gospel  to  various 
parts  of  Asia,  and  may  have  visited  Rome.  St.  Paul 
not  only  preached  the  gospel  in  Greece,  and  Rome, 
and  Spain,  but  it  is  believed  that  he  planted  the  stand- 
ard of  the  cross  in  the  island  of  Britain.  During  the 
first  three  centuries,  the  church  grew  rapidly,  and  con- 
tinued comparatively  pure.  Wherever  found,  and  by 
whatever  people  embraced,  it  had  the  word,  the  sacra- 
ments, and  the  three-fold  ministry,  with  its  commis- 
sion, claiming  to  have  the  seal  of  the  apostles.  By 
these  divine  credentials  it  was  everywhere  recognized 
and  submitted  to,  as  "the  church  of  the  hving  God  — 
the  pillar  and  ground  of  the  truth."     Such  were  the 

*  Wakes.  Ig.  pp.  218,  219,  227. 


DR.  Randall's  lecture.  225 

distinctive  features  of  this  kingdom,  that  no  one  who 
was  looking  for  it,  could  possibly  mistake  it ;  and  no 
considerable  body  of  men  had,  as  yet,  the  presumption 
to  put  asunder  what  Christ  had  joined  together. 

After  the  conversion  of  the  Emperor  Constantine, 
in  the  fourth  century,  the  church  began  to  receive  the 
smiles  of  the  world,  and  the  patronage  of  the  state, 
and  then  it  began  to  decline  in  godliness. 

Thus  far  each  church  had  its  own  bishop,  and  these 
were  essentially  independent  of  each  other.  The 
churches  in  Asia,  Africa,  Gaul,  Spain,  and  Britain, 
were  on  an  equality,  and  all  of  them  were  independ- 
ent of  Rome.  The  bishop  of  Rome  met  other  bishops 
of  the  church  in  councils,  without  having  or  claiming 
any  superiority.  It  was  not  until  the  seventh  century, 
that  the  bishop  of  Rome,  having  stealthily  assumed 
powers  that  did  not  belong  to  him,  was  acknowledged 
by  the  western  churches  as  a  Pope,  and  not  even  then 
without  sharp  opposition. 

The  papal  supremacy  was  then,  and  has  ever  since 
been  rejected  by  the  Greek  and  Oriental  churches. 
Henceforth  there  was  a  great  division  in  the  Christian 
church.  Asia  and  the  east  of  Europe  including  Greece, 
and  the  north-eastern  part  of  Africa  were  on  the  one 
side,  and  known  as  the  Greek  Church  ;  and  Europe, 
from  Austria  westward,  was  on  the  other  side,  and 
known  as  the  Latin  Church. 

The  Church  of  England  was  founded,  probably,  in 


226  pitts-strep:t  chapel  lectuues. 

the  Apostolic  Age,  and,  it  is  said,  by  the  labors  of  St. 
Paul.  In  common  with  other  chm^ches  it  maintained 
its  independence  of  the  Chm'ch  of  Rome,  for  five  cen- 
turies. It  had  the  Word,  the  Sacraments,  and  the 
three-fold  Ministry  '.  Bishops^  Priests^  and  Deacons.  It 
derived  the  succession,  not  from  the  Church  of  Rome, 
but  from  the  Apostles^  through  the  Bishops  of  Aries 
and  Lyons,  and  the  Asiatic  Bishops. 

The  British  Church  thus  continued,  until  the  time 
of  the  Saxon  invasion.  After  that  event,  the  Romish 
Church,  in  a.  d.  596,  sent  Augustine,  with  a  company 
of  Missionaries,  to  that  Island.  The  efforts  of  these 
Romans  were  so  far  successful,  that  while  the  heathen 
Saxons  were  converted  to  Christianity,  the  British 
Church  herself  was  gradually. brought  under  the  dom- 
ination of  the  Romish  hierarchy. 

When  Augustine  landed  he  found  the  queen  an 
avowed  Christian.  He  found,  moreover,  a  church 
fully  organized,  with  an  Archbishop  and  seven  Bish- 
ops. As  early  as  A.  D.  400  or  420,  a  synod  of  Brit- 
ish Christians  was  held  at  Verulam,  for  the  purpose 
of  checking  the  heresy  of  Pelagius.  At  the  Coun- 
cil of  Aries,  held  in  A.  D.  314,  there  were  present 
British  Bishops,  and,  at  this  time,  there  were  three 
metropolitans  in  Britain,  and  this  was  two  hundred 
years  before  there  were  any  Roman  missionaries  on 
the  island.  St.  Alban,  the  proto-martyr,  was  put  to 
death  for  his  faith,  during  the  persecution  under  Diocle- 


DR.  Randall's  lecture.  227 

tian  in  A.  D.  305.  Almost  three  hundred  years  before 
Rome  had  a  foothold  in  Britain,  the  British  Church 
had  not  only  her  Bishops  but  her  martyrs. 

Thus  it  is  evident  that  the  Church  was  fully  estab- 
lished in  England,  and  from  a  source  entirely  inde- 
pendent of  Rome,  nearly  five  hundred  years  before 
the  Romish  Church  sent  thither  its  emissaries. 

The  shades  of  the  night  of  the  middle  ages  were 
now  falling  upon  Christendom.  The  Pope's  suprema- 
cy had  finally,  though  reluctantly,  been  conceded  by 
the  western  churches,  and  the  successor  of  St.  Peter 
was  beginning  to  lord  it  over  God's  heritage.  To  the 
great  credit  of  the  English  Church,  it  can  be  shown, 
that,  during  this  dark  period,  there  were  leading  men 
in  that  communion,  who  made  a  bold  stand,  not  only 
against  the  usurpations,  but  against  the  corruptions  of 
popery.  In  A.  D.  961,  Archbishop  Dunstan  did  not 
hesitate  to  set  at  defiance  the  papal  mandate,  when  he 
.deemed  it  unjust  or  improper.  Alfric  Pottock,  Arcli- 
bishop  of  York  from  1023  to  1050,  openly  impugned 
the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation.  "  In  the  next  cen- 
tury, Gilbert  Foliat,  consecrated  Bishop  of  Hereford 
in  1148,  set  at  defiance  the  papal  authority,  and  though 
twice  excommunicated  by  the  Pope,  paid  no  regard  to 
the  thunders  of  the  Vatican."  "Robert  Grostete,  or 
Greathead,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  from  1234  to  1258, 
visited  Rome,  and  protested  against  its  corruptions 
before   the   Pope   and    Cardinals."      He  subsequent  ly 


228  PITTS-STREET  CHAPEL   LECTURES. 


"  set  at  naught  the  Pope's  commands,  for  which  he 
was  excommunicated;  but  the  thunderbolt  fell  harm- 
less at  his  feet,  and  he  died  in  peaceful  possession  of 
his  See."  *  As  late  as  the  twelfth  century  the  Irish 
Church  refused  to  accede  fully  to  the  supremacy  of 
the  Pope.  For  hundreds  of  years  "  there  was  dark- 
ness over  the  promised  land "  of  Christendom,  "  and 
gross  darkness  covered "  both  ministry  and  people. 
Idolatry,  superstition,  unsound  doctrines,  and  corrupt 
practices,  everywhere  prevailed.  Yet  this  was  still 
the  Church  of  Christ.  Just  as  the  Jewish  Church  was 
the  Church  of  God,  while  in  a  state  of  idolatrous 
rebellion.  In  our  Savior's  time  the  ministry  of  that 
church  had  become  exceedingly  corrupt,  yet  He  recog- 
nized them  as  having  divine  authority,  and  in  this  man- 
ner counselled  His  disciples :  "  The  Scribes  and  the 
Pharisees  sit  in  Moses'  seat ;  all,  therefore,  whatsoever 
they  bid  you  observe,  that  observe  and  do,  but  do  not 
ye  after  their  works."  f  In  the  sixteenth  century,  the- 
time,  in  God's  good  Providence,  had  come,  when  the 
Apostolic  Church  of  England  should  arise,  and  throw- 
ing off  the  papal  yoke,  again  take  her  rightful  place  as 
a  branch  of  the  Universal  Church  of  Christ.  In  doing 
this  "  she  freed  herself  from  the  errors  into  which  she 
had  fallen." 

There  was  no  new  church  created  at  the  Reforma- 

*  Chapin  on  the  Primitive  Church  t  Matt,  xxiii.,  1,2. 


DR.    RANDALL'S    LECTUKE.  229 

tion.  The  English  Church,  by  the  help  of  her  divine 
head,  reformed  herself.  She  did  not  thereby  lose  her 
identity^  much  less  her  Apostolic  existence.  "  The  er- 
rors of  the  church  were  not  the  church  herself,  and  in 
quitting  them  she  did  not  quit  herself,  any  more  than 
a  man  changes  his  face  when  he  washes  it,  or  loses 
his  identity  when  he  recovers  from  a  disease.  The 
English  Church  after  the  Reformation  was  as  much 
the  English  Church,  as  Naaman  was  Naaman  after  he 
had  washed  away  his  leprosy  in  the  river  Jordan." 
During  all  this  period  of  darkness  and  corruption,  the 
Church  of  England  did  not  lose  her  visibility  or  her 
identity.  "  Job  was  visibly  and  verily  Job,  when  he 
was  covered  with  sores.  So  was  the  church  in 
Britain  visible  in  the  darkest  hour  of  that  black  mid- 
night of  ages.  She  was  visible  in  her  churches,  in 
her  ordained  ministers,  in  the  Holy  Sacraments,  the 
Holy  Scriptures."  She  shone  forth  in  the  flames  of 
her  martyrs,  who  suffered  for  the  truth. 

The  rule  of  reformation  which  she  followed  was 
this:  to  reject  whatever  of  doctrine  was  unscriptural, 
and  whatever  of  usages  were  contrary  to  the  practice 
of  the  church  in  the  first  and  purest  ages.  She  sim- 
ply threw  off  what  popery  had  superadded  to  the  faith. 
The  gi-eat  difference  between  the  reformation  in  Eng 
land  and  the  reformation  on  the  Continent  was  this : 
the  English  Church  rejected  nothing,  simply  because 
the  Romish  Church  held  or  practiced  it,  for  the  reason 


230  PITTS-STREET  CHAPEL  LECTURES. 

that  this,  of  itself,  did  not  make  a  doctrine  or  a  cere- 
mony wrong.  Hence,  she  retained  the  ministry  in  the 
three  orders,  of  Bishops,  Priests  and  Deacons,  a  liturgi 
cal  service,  clerical  vestments,  and  other  minor  matters, 
none  of  which  were  the  fruits  of  the  papacy.  It  is 
very  true,  Rome  had  abused  the  office  of  a  Bishop, 
but  that  was  no  good  reason  for  rejecting  what  the 
Apostles  had  established.  So  Rome  had  more  than 
abused  the  Sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  not  only 
by  withholding  the  cup  from  the  laity,  but  by  degrad- 
ing that  divine  Ordinance  of  Christ,  into  an  act  of  ab- 
solute idolatry;  yet  that  most  abominable  abuse 
would  not  justify  the  rejection  of  the  Sacrament  alto- 
gether. There  were  some  things  which  the  English 
Church  held,  and  still  hold,  in  common  with  the  Ro- 
man Church,  for  the  good  reason  that  these  things 
were  held  by  the  Church  in  the  Apostolic  age.  On 
the  contrary,  the  Reformers  on  the  Continent  were  not 
content  to  exscind  what  was  corrupt,  but  in  their  zeal 
they  cut  off  what  was  Apostolic.  They  rejected  Epis- 
copacy, because  the  Bishop  of  Rome  was  a  Pope. 
As  well  might  they  have  rejected  the  Bible  and  the 
Lord's  Supper. 

The  multitude  of  sects  which  subsequently  sprang 
up,  carried  this  unlicensed  liberty  to  still  greater  ex- 
tremes. There  were  the  "  Independents,"  who  not 
only  rejected  Episcopacy,  but  Presbyterianism  also, 
and  so  refused  all  ministry  that  pretended  to  an  Apos- 


DR.    RANDALL'S   LECTURE.  Z6i 

tolic  commission,  and  accepted  such  only  as  the  con- 
gregation should  make  for  themselves,  hence  they  were 
called  "  Congregationalistsy  Then  there  were  the 
Quakers^  who  rejected  not  only  the  ministry  but  the 
Sacraments.  The  Puritans,  who  would  not  tolerate 
either  the  Episcopacy  of  England  or  the  Presbyterian- 
ism  of  Geneva,  and  who  felt  aggrieved  at  the  union 
of  church  and  state,  in  consequence  of  their  sufferings 
as  dissenters,  emigrated  to  this  country  in  search  of 
that  liberty  which  they  could  not  enjoy  at  home. 
They  had  hardly  placed  their  feet  on  Plymouth  Eock 
ere  they  formed  a  state  and  joined  it  to  the  church,  so 
that  the  colonial  daughter,  in  her  infancy,  rivaled  her 
venerable  mother  in  the  tenacity  with  which  she  cher- 
ished the  unnatural  wedlock  of  church  and  state. 
Nor  was  she  very  much  behind  her  queenly  matrons 
in  the  zeal  with  which  she  maintained  the  supremacy 
of  her  established  religion,  as  Quakers,  Baptists  and 
Churchmen  could  feelingly  attest. 

The  members  of  the  Church  of  England  in  the  colo- 
nies were  comparatively  few.  Nevertheless,  several 
parishes  were  organized  in  New  England,  and  in  New 
York,  and  Virginia.  In  Massachusetts,  churchmen 
felt  the  fires  of  persecution,  which  puritan  hands  had 
lighted  on  the  shores  of  the  new  world.  Among 
other  enactments,  it  was  made  a  penal  offence  for  any 
person  to  observe  the  festival  of  Christmas  by  a  religi- 
ous service.     So  that  if  a  churchman   should  sing  a 


232  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

Psalm  of  Praise  to  God,  in  this  city  of  Boston,  in  com- 
memoration of  the  birth  of  Christ,  he  would  be  liable 
to  be  thrust  into  a  dungeon.* 

Episcopal  clergymen  were  sent  over  from  England, 
and  chiefly  maintained  by  Missionary  Societies  in  the 
English  Church.  The  parishes  here  were,  nominally, 
under  the  care  of  the  Bishop  of  London.  When  the 
colonies  declared  their  independence  of  the  mother 
country,  then  there  was  a  necessary  abrogation  of  the 
ecclesiastical  relations,  which  the  Episcopal  Church 
here  sustained  to  the  Church  of  England. 

In  the  year  1784,  the  Rev.  Samuel  Seabury  was 
elected  to  the  office  of  Bishop,  by  the  clergy  of  Con- 
necticut, and  was  consecrated  by  certain  Bishops  in 
Scotland.  The  Rev.  William  White  of  Pensylvania, 
Rev.  Samuel  Provost  of  New  York,  and  the  Rev. 
James  Madison  of  Virginia,  were  consecrated  Bishops 
in  England ;  the  first  two  in  1787,  and  the  last  named 
in  1790.  The  organization  of  the  Episcopal  Church 
in  the  United  States  was  very  soon  completed.  And 
here  were  the  Word,  the  Sacraments,  and  the  Ministry, 
in  the  three  orders  of  Bishops,  Priests,  and  Deacons, 
in  an  unbroken  succession,  from  the  Apostles.  This 
divine  commission  has  thus  come  down  to  us  from 
Christ.  It  has  to-day  just  the  same  freshness  and 
authority  that  it  had,  when  St.  Paul  ordained  Titus 
with  power  to  ordain  others  in  like  manner. 

*  Note  A. 


DR.   RANDALL'S  LECTURE.  233 

The  Bishops  of  the  American  Church  can  trace 
their  ecclesiastical  lineage  through  Archbishop  Shel 
don,  up  through  the  old  English,  Ifalian,  and  Irish 
Episcopate,  to  the  Apostolic  Age.  The  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States  claims  to  be  a 
branch  of  "  the  Church  of  the  Living  God,  the  pillar 
and  ground  of  the  truth." 

The  Church  of  Christ,  all  admit,  is  an  entity^ — it  is 
somewhere,  and  must  be  known  by  something. 
Where  is  it,  and  what  are  the  signs  of  it  ?  I  answer : 
It  is  to  be  found  wherever  the  Word,  the  Ministry, 
and  the  Sacraments  are  found.  However  it  may  be 
with  others,  for  whom  we  do  not  speak,  we  claim  to 
have  these  three.  The  Church  of  Christy  which  "  He 
bought  with  His  blood,"  which  He  has  promised  to  be 
with,  to  the  end  of  the  world,  is  not  just  what  wicked 
or  even  pious  men  choose  to  make  it;  one  thing  in  one 
place,  and  a  totally  different  thing  in  anothei  place. 
The  church  is  like  its  Divine  Head  in  the  essential 
qualities  of  its  being:  "the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and 
forever."  There  are  men  who  reject  the  Bible :  they 
don't  believe  the  Word  of  God.  Are  they  the  church? 
There  are  others  who  reject  the  Sacraments.  They 
recognise  no  covenant,  and  so  repudiate  the  seal  of  it. 
Are  they  the  church  ?  There  are  men  that  scout  the 
divinity  of  Christ,  laugh  at  His  IVIiracles,  and  tallv  of 
the  coming  of  better  men  than  He.  Are  they  the 
church  ?     There  are  others  who  do  not  believe  in  any 

20* 


234  PITTS-STREET  CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

ministry.     Are  they  the    Church   of    Christ  ?     Others 
pretend  to  have  a  revelation  of  their  own,  superior  to 
the  Bible  —  the' followers  of   Mahommed,   Sweeden- 
borg,  and  Smith,  with  revelations  as  contradictory  to 
each  other,  as  they  all  are  contradictory  to  the  Word 
of  God.     Are  they  the   Church   of  God's  only  Son  ? 
There  is  the  latest  spiritual  swindle,  which  has  turned 
the  minds  of  men  till  they  are  made  to  believe  that  a 
man  can  have  a  better  book  than  the  Bible  rapped  out 
for  him  at  his  own  fireside.     Are  these   people,  who 
"  seek  unto  them  that  have  familiar  spirits,  and  unto 
wizards  that  peep  and  that  mutter,"  are  they  the  Church 
of  Christ  ?     Can  it  be  that  the  Savior,  who  knew  what 
is  in  man,  and  who  foresaw  in  what  eccentric  forms 
man's   depraved    folly   would   develop   itself,   should 
place  His  church  in  the  world,  as  the  exclusive  instru- 
mentality for  the  salvation  of  men,  without  any  infal- 
lible marks,  by  which  it  might  be  distinguished  from 
all  things  human,  and  all  things  devilish  ?     Such  an 
idea   is    preposterous.     The  world   is    as  wicked,  as 
rebellious,  as  curious,  as  inventive,  as  fond  of  change 
and  of  novelty  now,  as  in  the  days  of  Moses  and  the 
Prophets,  and  as  in  the  time  of  Christ  and  His  Apos- 
tles.    The  marks   of  the  Jewish    Church  were   such, 
in  that  "  wicked  and  adulterous  generation,"  that  no- 
body was  in  any  danger  of  confounding  that  church 
with  any  other  organization.    Would  Christ  make  the 
marks  of  the  Christian  Church  to  be  less  distinct  ?    Hi? 


Dil.    RANDALL'S    LECTURE.  235 

church  is  here,  among  men  ;  it  has  been  here  more 
than  eighteen  hundred  years,  and  it  is  to  continue 
here,  until  the  last  great  day.  Amid  the  noise,  and 
confusion,  and  conflict,  which  fill  the  world,  as  the 
offspring  of  sin,  this  church  is  to  do  its  great  work, 
and  there  will  never  be  an  hour  when  it  many  not  be 
identified  as  "the  Church  of  the  Living  God,  the 
pillar  and  ground  of  the  truth."  It  may  be  known 
now,  and  for  all  time  to  come  it  will  be  known,  as  it 
has  been  known  for  more  than  eighteen  centuries. 
Wherever  there  "is  a  congregation  of  faithful  men, 
in  the  which  the  pure  Word  of  God  is  preached, 
and  the  Sacraments  be  duly  ministered,  according  to 
Christ's  ordinance,  in  all  those  things,  that  of  neces- 
sity are  requisite  to  the  same,"  *  there  is  "  the  Church 
of  the  Living  God,  the  pillar  and  ground  of  the 
truth."  By  whatever  name  it  may  be  known,  or  who- 
ever may  be  its  members,  that  organization  is  the 
Church  of  Christ,  as  distinguished  from  all  devices  of 
men. 

Do  you  ask  how  we  may  be  sure  of  a  ministry  of 
"unbroken  succession,"  from  the  Apostles,  holding 
and  handing  down  their  commission  from  Christ  ?  I 
answer, — just  as  you  know  how  this  Bible  has  come 
down  to  us,  "  a  true  copy  "  of  the  original  manuscript, 
written  by  the  inspired  pen  of  the   Apostles.     This 

*  19th  Art. 


236  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

Holy  Bible,  and  this  ministerial  commission,  have 
been  transmitted  by  the  same  hands.  They  have 
both  been  guarded  by  that  vigilance  of  the  church,  in 
all  ages,  which  warrants  the  confidence  that  is  now, 
and  ever  has  been  entertained  by  the  faithful,  every- 
where, in  the  authenticity  of  that  book,  which  we  call 
the  Bible  * 

Is  it  objected,  that  this  is  an  exclusive  claim  on  the 
part  of  a  comparatively  small  minority  of  Christen- 
dom? To  this  I  answer:  that  for  fifteen  hundred 
years,  from  the  Apostles,  there  was  no  other  ministry 
in  the  Christian  Church.  Wherever  the  Church  ex- 
isted there  were  these  three  orders :  Bishops,  Priests, 
and  Deacons,  claiming  to  come  from  the  Apostles. 
But  it  may  be  asked :  What  relation  does  Episcopacy 
bear  to  other  forms  of  ministry,  at  the  present  time  ? 
To  this  question  I  reply,  that  if  it  were  in  the  minority, 
in  point  of  numbers,  that  fact  could  by  no  possibility 
affect  its  claim  to  Apostolic  authority.  The  popular 
will  in  a  particular  locality  cannot  change  the  princi- 
ples of  truth.  Principles  are  not  like  politicians,  made 
and  unmade  by  a  majority  of  voices.  There  are  in 
the  world,  at  the  present  time,  about  tvjo  hundred 
millions  of  people,  who  bear  the  christian  name.  Of 
these  two  hundred  millions,  one  hundred  and  eighty 
millions  acknowledge  the  authority  of  the  Apostolic 

*  Note  D. 


DR.  Randall's  lecture.  237 

ministry,  of  Bishops,  Priests,  and  Deacons.  It  ap- 
pears then,  that  at  the  present  time,  about  four  fifths 
of  all  Christendom  retain  the  ministry  as  the  Apostles 
established  it,  and  as  the  whole  Church  retained  it  for 
fifteen  hundred  years.  It  may  be  objected,  that  such  a 
view  of  the  ministry  is  an  acknowledgment,  that  the 
Romish  and  Greek  communions  have  the  apostolic 
ministry,  and  are  therefore  Churches  of  Christ.  We 
aver  that  they  are  Christian  Churches,  holding  more 
or  less  of  error.  But  their  errors  do  not  vitiate  their 
Orders.  Their  abuse  of  the  ministerial  commission 
does  not  annihilate  that  commission.  As  I  have  al- 
ready said,  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  were  so  corrupt, 
in  doctrine  and  in  life,  that  the  Savior  likened  them 
"  to  whited  sepulchres  full  of  all  uncleanness,"  and  yet, 
in  His  day,  they  sat  in  Moses'  seat,  and  by  His  com- 
mand His  disciples  were  required  to  recognize  their 
divine  commission,  while  they  were  to  be  careful  to 
avoid  the  contamination  of  their  evil  example.  "Baa- 
lam  was  a  wicked  man,  but  a  true  Prophet."  *  "  The 
Sons  of  Eli,  bad  as  they  were,  ceased  not  to  be 
Priests."  f  It  may  be  asked,  if  our  Protestant  Priest- 
hood is  not  indebted  for  its  existence  to  a  reformation 
brought  about  by  Henry  the  VIII.  to  gratify  his  own 
evil  passions  ?  Suppose  we  admit  all  this,  what  then  ? 
"  Henry  was  an  agent  in  effecting  this  great  work ;  still 

*Num.  XXII.  to  XXIV ;  xxxi.  16.  t  1  Saml.  ii. 


238  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

the  work-man  is  not  the  work.  The  Temple  of  Solo- 
mon was  constructed  with  cedars  of  Lebanon  hewn 
by  workmen  of  heathen  Tyre.  Jehu  did  not  please 
God ;  but  his  reformation  did.  Nebuchadnezzar  and 
Ahasuerus  were  idolatrous ;  but  their  edicts  for  God's 
service  were  religious.  The  Temple,  in  whicl  our 
Lord  was  presented  and  in  which  He  preached,  and 
worshipped,  had  been  repaired  by  the  impious  and 
cruel  Herod,  who  sought  the  Lord's  life."  *  So  in  the 
matter  of  the  Reformation,  the  character  of  the  agency 
did  not  affect  the  integrity  of  the  work  itself.  There 
are  not  a  few  among  the  less  enlightened  of  the  com- 
munity, who  regard  the  Episcopal  Church,  whose  dis- 
tinctive principles  I  am  here  to  explain,  as  but  a  slight 
remove  from  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  While 
others,  a  little  less  bigoted,  condescend  to  confess,  that 
while  ours  is  something  of  an  improvement  upon  the 
papal  communion,  yet  we  are  the  legitimate  offspring 
of  the  "  mistress  of  abominations,"  and  carry  the 
lineaments  of  the  scarlet  mother  in  our  countenances 
too  distinctly  to  leave  any  doubt  of  our  pedigree.  In 
reply,  we  have  only  to  say ;  that  ours  is  a  Protestant 
Church  in  the  most  comprehensive  sense  of  that  term. 
It  did  not  originate  from  the  papal  communion.  It  is 
no  offspring  of  Rome.  As  I  have  already  shown,  the 
English  Church  had  an  existence  five  hundred  years 

*Theop.  Americanus,  p.  199. 


239 

before  Roman  Catholic  missionaries  visited  the  Island 
of  Great  Britain.  In  the  seventh  century  she  was 
overcome  by  Popery ;  and  in  the  sixteenth  century  she 
threw  oil  that  yoke  of  papal  bondage,  and  stood,  where 
she  stood  before,  an  apostolic  church,  with  a  ministry 
which  came  to  her  from  apostolic  hands,  through  Bish- 
ops who  were  not  of  Rome.  So  much  as  to  the  taint 
of  parentage.  In  clearing  herself  of  the  corruptions 
of  Romanism,  at  the  Reformation,  she  uttered  her  per- 
petual "  Protest "  against  the  heresies  of  that  church, 
in  tones  that  made  the  Vatican  tremble.  The  Episco- 
pal Church  Romish  I  I  ask,  who  fought  the  battles  of 
the  Reformation  ?  From  whose  ranks  came  forth,  dur- 
ing this  eventful  period,  that  noble  army  of  martyrs, 
who  went  to  Heaven  from  the  plains  of  Smithfield,  in 
chariots  of  fire  ?  Who  were  the  mighty  men  of  that 
age  of  ecclesiastical  revolution,  whose  lives  and  learn- 
ing were  consecrated  to  the  work  of  exposing  the  un- 
scriptural  dogmas  of  Rome,  whose  strong  hands  were 
stretched  forth  to  strip  the  pontifical  robes  from  that 
graceless  tyrant,  who  had  so  long  and  so  effectually 
enslaved  Christ's  freemen?  Who  were  the  bold 
preachers  of  that  day,  the  men  that  "took  their  lives  in 
their  hands,"  and  went  forth  to  denounce  the  usurpa- 
tions of  priestly  power,  and  the  practice  of  the  idola- 
trous rites  of  Romanism  ?  English  churchmen,  every 
one  of  them!  The  Episcopal  Church  Romish!  I  ask 
the  men  who  make  this  assertion  w^here  do  you  bor- 


24:0  PITTS-STKEET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

row  the  weapons  wherewith  you  assault  Popery? 
Whose  arguments  do  you  use,  whose  learning  do  you 
employ,  whose  books  do  you  study,  when  you  attack  the 
Papacy  ?  Do  not  every  one  of  these  zealous  boasters 
go  to  the  armory,  which  the  Old  English  Divines  have 
so  richly  furnished,  for  every  weapon  they  use  against 
Romanism?  Can  they  bring  forward  a  single  strong 
protestant  argument,  which  is  new,  or  which  cannot  be 
found  in  the  writings  of  the  champions  of  the  Refor- 
mation in  the  Church  of  England?  If  all  this  be  so, 
Vv^hy  do  men  stultify  themselves  by  continually  ringing 
changes  upon  that  well  worn  saw  of  "  Popery  in 
Episcopacy  "  ?  But  more  than  this,  1  challenge  any 
body  of  Christians  to  produce  one  tithe  of  the  amount 
of  printed  standard  authority  for  doctrines,  which  are 
anti-papal,  as  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  can 
show  in  her  Prayer  Book  and  Homilies.  Until  these 
accusers  can  do  something  like  this,  they  should  cease 
to  make  the  charge  of  Romanism  or  Romish  tenden- 
cies against  our  church.  But  it  is  said  that  our  min- 
isters go  to  Rome.  Admitting  that  such  may  have 
been  the  fact  in  some  instances,  what  does  this  prove  ? 
Does  it  show  that  our's  is  a  school  of  papacy  ?  No 
more  than  the  treason  of  Judas  proved  that  the  college 
of  the  Apostles  was  a  school  of  Apostacy.  There  are 
nearly  twenty  thousand  Protestant  Episcopal  Clergy- 
men in  the  English  and  American  Episcopal  Churches  ; 
and  within  the  last  ten  years,  there  may  have  been 


DR.  Randall's  lecture.  241 

among  them  one  hundred  defections  to  Rome.  Take 
twenty  thousand  ministers  of  the  other  protestant 
bodies  in  this  country,  if  there  be  so  many  here,  and 
see  how  many  of  this  number  have  been  displaced 
from  the  ministry,  during  the  last  ten  years,  for  errors 
in  doctrine  and  life.  You  will  probably  find  two  for 
every  one  that  has  gone  to  Rome,  from  the  Episcopal 
Church ;  and  do  you  therefore  conclude  that  these 
respectable  denominations  are  necessarily  tending  to 
infidelity  and  immorality.? 

There  is  another  view  of  this  matter,  which  should 
be  taken.  We  get-  credit  for  conversions  to  Roman- 
ism, to  which  we  are  not  entitled.  A  very  large  pro- 
portion of  the  defections  to  popery,  in  the  Episcopal 
church  in  the  United  States,  both  of  clergy  and  laity, 
are  persons,  who  have  come  into  our  fold  from  the 
various  denominations  around  us.  Many  of  them  are 
fatally  infected  before  they  come  among  us ;  they  stay 
long  enough  to  break  out  with  the  loathsome  disease, 
and  then  we,  forsooth,  get  the  name  of  having  a  "  pest- 
house,"  and  all  godly  people  are  warned  to  keep  clear 
of  the  Church,  if  they  wish  to  preserve  their  faith  in 
good  health.  It,  however,  has  happened  in  many 
cases,  that  persons  have  gone  direct  to  the  Church  of 
Rome,  from  the  communions  in  which  they  have  been 
reared,  without  taking  the  Episcopal  Church  in  their 
way.  This  has  been  the  fact  in  this  State.  The  con- 
verts to  popery,  in  Boston,  for  the  last  ten  years,  have 

21 


242  PITTS-STREET  CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

represented  the  Orthodox  Congregationalist,  the  Bap- 
tist, and  the  Unitarian  denominations. 

The  protestant  character  of  our  communion  is  seen 
in  this,  that  when  a  man  once  becomes  a  papist,  he 
cannot  stay  in  it.  He  cannot  teach  its  doctrines,  nor 
use  its  prayers,  nor  enjoy  its  services.  He  is  not  at 
home ;  he  "  goes  out  from  us  because  he  is  not  of  us," 
and  like  Judas,  finds  "  his  own  place."  We  need  no 
better  witnesses  of  the  thoroughly  protestant  character 
of  our  church,  than  the  testimony  of.  perverts  to  Rome. 

The  Episcopal  Church  is  protestant  in  another  sense. 
The  world,  as  it  stands  aloof  from  the  kingdom  of 
Christ,  is  intelligent  enough  to  perceive,  that  all  the 
errors  in  Christendom  are  not  clustered  about  the 
"  seven  hills ; "  that  there  are  those  who  have  departed 
from  the  faith,  who  do  not  wear  the  livery  of  the 
Vatican. 

The  Episcopal  Church  assaults  the  faith  of  none. 
She  makes  no  war  upon  the  system  of  others.  She  is 
content  with  simply  maintaining  her  own  Apostolic 
standards,  and  in  this  unobtrusive  manner,  protesting 
against  their  multiform  errors.  She  beholds  the  ser- 
ried ranks  of  the  Jlomans  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
motley  multitude  of  the  conflicting  sects  on  the  other. 
Of  these  sects  none  are  over  three  hundi'ed  years  old, 
and  many  of  them  are  much  younger ;  some  of  them 
came  into  being,  within  the  memory  of  persons  in  this 
congregation. 


DR.    RANDALL'S  LECTURE.  243 

In  respect  to  church  government,  other  protestant 
bodies  may  be  divided  into  three  classes  :  Episcopal, 
Presbyterian,  and  Congregational.  .This  last  includes 
all  who  adopt  that  mode  of  church  government ;  em- 
bracing Baptists,  Unitarians,  Orthodox  Congregation- 
alists,  Universalists,  a  part  of  the  Methodists,  Quak- 
ers, Shakers,  &c.  The  Methodists^  have  an  Episcopal 
form  of  government.  Their  ministry  consists  of 
Bishops,  Elders  and  Deacons  ;  but  their  episcopacy 
only  reaches  to  John  Wesley ;  whereas  to  be  valid,  it 
should  go  back  to  the  Apostles.  Mr.  Wesley  was  a 
godly  minister  in  the  Church  of  England,  at  a  time 
when  pious  preachers  were  not  as  numerous  in  that 
church  as  they  are  now.  His  heart  burned  within 
him  for  a  true  revival  of  pure  and  undefiled  Religion,  of 
which  there  was  great  need.  God  blessed  his  preach- 
ing. Multitudes  became  interested.  These  new  con- 
verts were  Church  of  England  people,  and  their  zeal- 
ous devotion  to  the  duties  of  j-eligion  procured  for 
them  the  soubriquet  of  Methodists  ;  a  title  first  given 
to  Mr.  Wesley  at  the  University  of  Oxford,  by  way  of 
reproach,  for  his  exactness  of  life.  Mr.  Wesley  never 
intended  to  be  the  founder  of  a  sect.  He  says,  at  a 
meeting  of  their  preachers  in  1744,  "  I  exhorted  them 
to  keep  to  the  church ;  observing  that  this  was  our  pe- 
culiar glory  —  not  to  form  any  new  sect,  but  abiding 
in  our  own  church,  to  do  to  all  men  all  the  good  we 
possibly   could."      A   strong   sectarian   spirit   having 


244  ■   PITTS-STEEET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

manifested  itself,  and  Mr.  Wesley  desiring  to  bring 
the  matter  to  an  issue,  caused  the  question  to  be  dis- 
cussed, and  it  was  finally  decided,  without  a  dissent- 
ing voice,  that  "  It  is  by  no  means  expedient  that  the 
Methodists  should  leave  the  Church  of  England." 
So  strong  was  this  feeling,  that  the  following  declara- 
tion was  inserted  in  the  first  xples  of  their  society: 
'''' they  that  leave  the  churchy  leave  us^  "And  this  we 
did,"  says  Mr.  "Wesley,  "  not  as  a  point  of  prudence^ 
but  a  point  of  conscience.  In  1789,  two  years  before 
his  death,  he  used  these  words  :  "  I  declare  once  more, 
that  I  live  and  die  a  member  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, and  that  none  who  regard  my  judgment  or  ad- 
vice, will  ever  separate  from  it."  "In  his  sermon, 
preached  at  Cork,  about  the  same  time,  he  declared  to 
the  preachers  in  his  connection,  that  tliey  had  no  right 
to  baptize  and  administer  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
Supper."  His  design  was  to  improve  the  state  of  re- 
ligion in  the  church ;  .and,  as  he  said,  he  did  not  dare 
to  leave  the  church.  "  Mr.  Wesley,  v»  hen  he  was 
eighty  years  of  age,  in  a  private  chamber  of  a  public 
house  in  Bristol,  England,  was  induced  to  lay  his 
hands  upon  the  head  of  Rev.  Dr.  Coke,  a  Presbyter  of 
the  Church  of  England,  appointing  him  as  a  superiri' 
tendent  over  the  missionary  operations  of  the  I^Ieth- 
odists  in  America.  On'  Dr.  Coke's  arrival  in  this 
country,  he  proceeded  to  lay  his  hands  on  the  head  of 
a  Mr.  Asbury,  a  layman,  and  thereby  ordained  him  to 


DR.    RANDALL'S   LECTURE.  245 

the  same  office  of  superintendent.  These  two  men 
soon  began  to  call  themselves  Bishops.  When  Mr. 
Wesley  heard  of  this,  he  immediately  rebuked  their 
arrogation  of  an  office  and  title,  which  he  never  pre- 
tended to  have  conveyed.  In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Asbury, 
he  says  :  '  Hoio  can  you^  how  dare  you  suffer  yourself  to 
he  elected  a  Bishop?  I  shudder,  I  start  at  the  very 
thought.  For -my  sake,  for  God's  sake,  for  Christ's 
"sake,  put  an  en(J  to  this.'  "*  This  was  the  origin  of 
Methodist  Episcopacy.  In  the  matter  of  the  minis- 
try, the  M^ethodists  have  the  "form,  without  the 
power."  Mr.  Wesley  could  not  give  to  another  what 
he  had  never  received  himself.  Not  being  a  Bishop 
he  could  not  confer  Episcopal  powers  on  Dr.  Coke, 
and  never  intended  to  confer  any  such  power.f  The 
Episcopal  Church  cannot,  of  course,  recognize  an 
Episcopacy  originating  with  a  Presbyter  of  the  Church 
of  England,  as  Apostolic,  and  therefore  valid.  The 
Presbyterians  originated .  with  John  Calvin,  at  the 
Reformation. J  They  believe  in  one  order  of  the  min- 
istry. They  hold;  as  Episcopalians  do,  to  the  doctrine 
of  an  Apostolic  succession,  with  this  difference  ;  we 
adhere  to  the  three  orders,  as  they  have  come  down 
from  the  Apostles  ;  they  hold  to  the  parity  of  the  min- 
istry, of  which  there  is  no  historical  proof,  over  three 
hundred  years  old.     "  The   origin  of  the  Congrega- 


*  Richardson's  "  Reasons,"  &c.  t  Note  B.  }  Note  M. 

21* 


246  PITTS-STREET    CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

tionalists  is  commonly  ascribed  to  Robert  Brown, 
who  organized  a  church  in  England  in  1583,  who 
were  called  Brownists."  There  may  have* been  some 
churches  formed  upon  Congregational  principles  a 
few  years  earlier,  in  the  reign  of  Edward  VI.  and 
Queen  Mary.  Brown's  church,  however,  seems  to 
have  come  to  nought.  About  the  beginning  of  the 
17th  century,  Jolm  Robinson  appeared,  who  has  been 
called  the  father  of  Modern  Congregationalism.  He' 
gathered  a  congregation  in  England,  went  to  Holland, 
and  thence  a  portion  of  his  people  emigi-ated  to 
America  in  1620.  They  rejected  the  doctrine  of  an 
Apostolical  succession  of  the  ministry.  They  regarded 
the  congregation  as  Raving  all  power,  in  the  matter  of 
conferring  the  ministerial  commission.  Hence,  the 
congregation  having  chosen  one  of  their  number  a 
minister,  had  a  right  to  ordain  him,  and  having  or- 
dained him  he  was  thereby  made  a  minister  of  Christ . 
The  Episcopal  Church  holds  to  the  principle,  that  no 
man  can  give  to  another  a  power  that  he  does  not 
himself  possess;  that  a  congregation  of  men  cannot 
make  ministers  of  God,  any  more  than  they  can  make 
Sacraments.  A  stream  can  never  run  higher  than  the 
fountain  from  which  it  proceeds.  Christ  called  and 
sent  his  Apostles  with  power  to  send  others.  This 
was  before  the  church  had  any  organic  form.  He  did 
not  organize  a  congregation  and  give  them  power  to 
commission  his  ministers.     On  the    other   hand  the 


247 

ministers,  with  their  commissions  from  Christ,  gath- 
ered and  organized  the  believers  into  congregations 
and  churches.*  The  first  Baptist  Church  of  which 
there  is  any  record,  was  organized  in  March,  1639,  by 
Roger  Williams,  in  Rhode  Island.  Mr.  Williams 
was  a  minister  of  the  Chm'ch  of  England.  Mr.  Eze- 
kiel  Holliman,  a  layman,  immersed  Mr.  Williams, 
and  Mr.  Williams  in  turn  immersed  Mr.  Holliman. 
This  denomination  hold  that  by  baptism,  a  person  is 
admitted  into  the  church  of  Christ,  and  that  immersion 
is  the  only  mode  of  baptism.  Hence,  all  who  have 
not  been  immersed  are  unhaptized.  Mr.  Holliman  was 
not  only  not  a  minister,  but  he  was  nqt  a  member  of 
the  church,  and  so  this  layman,  himself  iinbaptized^  ad- 
ministers baptism  to  Mr.  Williams.  With  such  a 
baptism,  Mr.  Williams  proceeds  to  baptize  as  a  min- 
ister. And  then  and  there  commenced  the  Baptist 
Church.  The  first  association  of  Baptists  was  held 
in  London  in  1689.f  In  respect  to  a  body  of  Chris- 
tians who  reject  infants  from  the  covenant, — who  re- 
strict the  administration  of  baptism  to  one  mode, — 
whose  baptism  is  to  be  traced  to  a  layman,  —  whose 
ministerial  commission  came  from'  the  congregation, 
and  that  only  a  little  more  than  two  hundred  years 
ago,  the  Episcopal  Church  must  be  Protestant.  To 
the    Unitarians,  who   are  still   younger, — who  have 

*  Note  N.  t  Note  I. 


248  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

neither  the  Apostolic  Ministry  nor  the  Apostolic  faith, 
—  the  Quakers,  who  have  neither  the  Ministry  nor  the 
Sacraments,  —  the  Shakers,  and  the  multitude  of  sects 
whose  peculiarities  I  cannot  describe, — to  all  these 
the  Episcopal  Church  is  simply  Protestant.  By 
quietly  but  firmly  adhering  to  the  "  faith  once  deliv- 
ered to  the  Saints,"  —  by  holding  to  the  Ministry  as 
the  Apostles  ordained  and  transmitted  it,  she  bears 
her  faithful  testimony  against  every  form  of  error, 
whether  it  spring  from  Rome  or  Geneva^  England  or 
America,  • 

II.  I  now  propose  to  notice  very  briefly  the  doc- 
trines  of  the  Church.  I.  The  teaching  of  the  church 
on  the  subject  of  human  depravity.  I  will  here  take 
occasion  to  remark,  that  the  doctrines  of  the  church 
are  set  forth  in  her  Liturgy,  Articles,  and  Homilies. 
In  these  she  teaches  that  "  all  men  are  conceived  and 
born  in  sin,"  *  and  "  there  is  no  health  in  us."  f 
"  Original  sin  is  the  fault  and  corruption  of  the  nature 
of  every  man,  that  naturally  is  engendered  of  the  off- 
spring of  Adam ;  whereby  man  is  very  far  gone  from 
original  righteousness,  and  is,  of  his  own  nature,  in- 
clined to  evil."  J 

Such  is  the  Church's  teaching  of  the  natural  sin- 
fulness of  man. 

*  Baptismal  Service.  f  Gen.  Con.  %  Art.  IX. 


DR.    RANDALL'S   LECTURE.  249 

2.  What  is  her  belief  in  the  nature  and  necessity 
of  a  change  of  heart?  In  one  of  her  Articles,  ifid  al- 
most everywhere  in  her  offices,  she  teaches  and  incul- 
cates, as  a  fundamental  doctrine  of  Scripture,  man's 
utter  inability  to  do  anything  good,  without  God's 
*'  special  gi*ace,  which  he  must  learn  at  all  times  to 
call  for  by  diligent  prayer."  The  language  of  her 
10th  Article  is :  "  The  condition  of  man,  after  the  fall 
of  Adam,  is  such  that  he  cannot  turn  and  prepare 
himself,  by  his  own  natural  strength  and  good  works, 
to  faith  and  calling  upon  God ;  wherefore  we  have  no 
power  to  do  good  works,  pleasant  and  acceptable  to 
God  without  the  grace  of  God  by  Christ  preventing 
us,  that  we  may  have  a  good  will,  and  working  with 
us,  when  we  have  that  good  will."  Morning  and 
evening  her  ministers  pray :  "  O  God,  make  clean  our 
hearts  within  us."  In  the  collect  for  Ash  Wednesday 
occurs  this  petition,  "  Create  and  make  in  us  new 
and  contrite  hearts." 

3.  The  doctrine  of  the  Divinity  of  Christ  is  inter- 
woven with  every  part  of  the  Prayef  Book.  The 
beams  of  the  Sun  of  Righteo^isness  shine  forth  from 
every  page  of  the  liturgy.  The  Divinity  of  the  Son 
of  God  is, 'as  it  were,  crystalized  in  the  liturgy.  The 
Church  everywhere  holds  up  Christ,  in  His  divine  na- 
ture, as  the  corner  stone  of  all  she  has,  or  does,  or 
hopes  for,  in  the  work  of  salvation.  In  the  fact  of 
His  death  she  recognizes  the  great  atoning  sacrifice 


250  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world.  In  the  all  sufficiency 
of  tha#  atonement,  she  trusts  and  thus  expresses  hei 
belief  in  the  language  of  her  31st  Article:  "The  offer- 
ing of  Christ  once  made  is  that  perfect  redemption,  pro- 
pitiation, and  satisfaction,  for  all  the  sins  of  the  whole 
world,  both  original  and  actual;  and  there  is  none 
other  satisfaction  for  sin,  but  that  alone." 

4.  The  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  is  held  and  taught 
as  one  of  the  first  principles  of  the  Gospel,  and  is 
fully  set  forth  in  the  Liturgy  and  Articles. 

5.  Touching  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith, 
nothing  can  be  more  explicit  than  the  language  of  the 
11th  Article :  "  We  are  acgounted  righteous  before 
God,  only  for  the  merit  of  our  Lord  and  Savior  Jesus 
Christ  by  faith,  and  not  for  our  own  works  or  deserv- 
ings.  Wherefore,  that  we  are  justified  by  faith  only,  is 
a  most  wholesome  doctrine,  and  very  full  of  comfort." 

It  is  the  less  necessary  to  elaborate  a  scriptural  ar- 
gument to  prove,  that  these  cardinal  doctrines  are  a 
part  of  the  "  faith  once  delivered  to  the  Saints,"  inas- 
much as  we  Tiold  them  in  common,  with  what  are 
termed  the  Orthodox  or  Evangelical  bodies  of  Protes- 
tant Christians  around  us. 

The  Church,  in  her  27th  Article,  sets  forth  the  duty 
of  bringing  children  to  baptism  in  these  words :  "  The 
baptism  of  young  children  is  in  anywise  to  be  re- 
tained in  the  church,  as  most  agreeable  with  the  insti- 
tution of  Christ."  < 


251 

Infant  baptism  was  practised  universally  through- 
out Christendom,  until  the  17th  century,  and  is  in  ac- 
corctance  with  the  practice  of  nineteen-twentieths  of 
all  Christendom  at  the  present  day. 

When  God  first  established  His  church  on  earth, 
He  decided,  for  reasons  which  it  does  not  become  us 
to  inquire  into,  that  His  church  should  be  composed 
of  adults  and  infants.  By  His  explicit  command  little 
children,  at  the  age  of  eight  days,  were  to  be  made 
members  of  the  Church,  by  receiving  the  seal  of  the 
Covenant.  When  Christ  was  an  infant,  He  too  was 
circumcised.  When  He  entered  upon  his  ministry, 
he  changed  the  seal^  but  he  did  not  change  the  coven- 
ant or  the  subjects  of  it.  All  the  time  he  was  on  the 
earth  infants  were  circumcised.  The  rite  was  held 
most  dear  by  his  own  people,  the  Jews,  and  of  it  they 
were  jealous,  as  of  a  privilege  of  inestimable  value. 
They  charged  Christ  with  many  things,  and  sought  by 
every  expedient  in  their  power,  to  bring  reproach  upon 
Him,  and  dishonor  upon  his  cause.  They  endeavored 
on  every  occasion,  to  stir  up  the  people  against  him, 
and  yet,  strange  to  say,  they  never  charged  him  with 
depriving  them  of  the  privilege  of  placing  their  chil- 
dren within  the  covenant.  Very  many  things  in  the^ 
Mosaic  Chnrch  were  to  be  abrogated.  Christ  did  not 
leave  either  his  friends  or  his  enemies  in  any  doubt,  as 
to  what  he  taught.  If  there  was  to  be  a  change  so 
fundamental  as  this  —  one  which   touched   a   tender 


252  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

spot  ill  the  heart  of  every  child  of  Abraham  —  one 
that  was  so  completely  to  revolutionize  the  mode  of 
membership  —  how  can  we  account  fox  the  Savior's 
silence  ?  We  are  sometimes  tauntingly  challenged  to 
produce  a  single  instance  of  infant  baptism,  in  the 
New  Testament,  as  if  the  want  of  such  a  record  was 
an  unanswerable  argument  in  proof,  that  the  practice 
is  unscriptural.  That  very  silence  is  one  of  the  strong- 
est arguments  in  its  favor.  If  children  had  been  ad- 
mitted to  the  church  from  the  time  lof  Abraham,  a 
period  of  more  than  eighteen  hundred  years,  and  they 
were  to  continue  to  be  members  of  the  covenant, 
through  all  time  to  come,  why  should  anything  be  said 
about  it,  what  occasion  would  there  be  to  speak  of  it? 
If,  on  the  other  hand,  this  custom  of  eighteen  hundred 
years  was  to  be  abrogated,  and  children  were  no  longer 
to  be  members  of  the  church,  then  we  should  look  for 
some  explicit  mention  of  it.  In  the  second  century  we 
find  this  custom  prevailing  everywhere  throughout  the 
Christian  Church;  nobody  objecting  to  it  as  an  inno- 
vation, or  as  a  new  doctrine,  which  the  Apostles  did 
not  teach.  If  it  did  not  have  the  sanction  of  Christ 
and  His  Apostles,  how  could  it  have  been  thus  early 
introduced  universally,  in  the  church,  with  no  record 
of  a  single  objection  from  any  quarter,  and  tliat,  too, 
in  an  age,  when  men  were  living,  who  had  conversed 
with  those  who  had  seen  the  Apostles,  and  this,  too,  in 
the  purest  period  of  the  church,  when  the  least  indica- 


253 

tion  of  error  in  doctrine  was  promptly  met  and  promptly 
puc  down?  While  the  date  of  the  introduction  of 
every  heresy  in  the  Christian  Church  can  be  readily 
pointed  out,  the  most  learned  opponent  of  infant  bap- 
tism has  never  yet  been  able  to  adduce  a  particle  of 
credible  historical  testimony  which  tells  the  time  and 
the  place  where  this  error  took  its  rise.* 

To  say  that  an  unconscious  child  is  not  a  fit  subject 
for  membership  in  the  church  of  the  living  God,  is  to 
accuse  the  Almighty  of  folly.  Let  it  be  remembered 
that  the  idea  of  infant  membership  of  the  church  was 
not  a  suggestion  of  Abraham,  but  a  command  of  Jeho- 
vah. •  It  is  sometimes  objected,  that  Christ  came  to 
bring  the  Mosaic  dispensation  to  an  end,  with  all  that 
pertained  to  it.  If  this  were  so,  the  chain  of  the  argu- 
ment is  not  long  enough  to  reach  Infant  Baptism,  for 
that  was  not  a  Mosaic^  but  a  Patriarchal  institution. 

As  to  the  7yiode  of  baptism,  the  church  considers  that 
the  application  of  water  to  the  person,  by  the  min- 
ister, "in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son, 
and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  is  valid  baptism,  whether  it 
be  by  aspersion  or  by  immersion.  Sacraments  are 
essentially  symbols,  and  it  is  plain  that  the  signifi- 
cance of  a  symbol  cannot  depend  upon  its  quantity. 
There  must  be  water  in  the  sacrament  of  baptism,  as 
there  must  be  bread  and  wine  in  the  sacrament  of  the 


*  Note  E. 
22 


254  PITTS-STREET    CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

Lord's  Supper.  To  the  communicant  who  receives  in 
faith,  a  crumb  of  bread  and  a  drop  of  wine  are  to  him 
as  essentially  a  sacrament  as  a  loaf  of  bread  and  cup 
of  wine  possibly  could  be.  Moreover,  the  word  hap- 
tize,  whatever  it  may  mean  when  used  by  heathen 
classics,  does  not  mean  exclusively  immersion  as  used 
in  Holy  Scripture.  If  we  would  know  the  definition 
of  this  term  as  employed  in  the  Gospel,  we  are  not  to 
go  to  the  dictionaries  for  its  signification,  but  to  the 
Bible. 

There  is  no  passage  in  the  Old  or  New  Testament, 
where  it  can  be  shown  -that  this  word  means  immer- 
sion. The  most  that  can  be  said  is,  that  in  certain 
texts  immersion  is  possible,  and  perhaps  probable.  On 
the  other  hand,  there  are  texts  in  which  the  word 
occurs,  where  it  not  only  does  not,  but  cannot  mean 
immersion.  Thus  we  are  told  that  the  Israelites  were 
baptized  unto  Moses  in  the  cloud  and  in  the  sea.* 
And  yet  the  Israelites  were  on  "  dry  land,"  and  "  un- 
der the  cloud."  There  is,  then,  a  baptism  which  a 
person  may  receive  while  standing  on  d7'y  land.  Such 
a  baptism   cannot,  by  any  possibility,  be  immersion. 

Again  ;  Christ  promised  that  his  disciples  should  be 
baptized  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  f  Thus  the  Savior 
explicitly  declared,  that  when  the  Apostles  should 
receive  the  Holy  Spirit  it  would  be  a  baptism.     On 

*  I  Cor.  X.  2.  —  Exodus  xiv.  16-22  1  Acts  i.  5. 


DR.    RANDALL'S   LECTURE.  255 

the  day.  of  Pentecost,  they  received  the  fulfillment  of 
this  promise.  In  what  way  ?  Let  St.  Peter  answer  : 
'*  This  is  that  which  was  spoken  by  the  Prophet  Joel ; 
and  it  shall  come  to  pass,  in  the  last  days,  (saith  God,) 
I  will  pour  out  my  spirit  upon  all  flesh."*  We  have 
here  the  declaration  of  a  prophet  that  the  Holy  Spirit 
would  be  ^'•poured  ouV  We  have  the  declaration  of 
the  Savior,  that  the  Holy  Spirit  would  be  given  to  his 
Apostles,  and  when  given,  it  would  be  a  baptism.  We 
have  the  testimony  of  St.  Peter,  that  the  promise  of 
Christ,  and  the  prophecy  of  Joel  were  both  fulfilled  on 
the  day  of  Pentecost ;  and  so  we  have  here,  on  an 
authority  that  cannot  be  gainsaid,  a  definition  of  the 
Wbrd  baptism,  viz  :  ^'•pouring  ;  "  and  thus  baptism  and 
pouring  are  one  and  the  same  thing. 

Again,  we  are  told  by  St.  Mark  that  "  the  Pharisees, 
and  all  the  Jews,  except  they  wash  their  hands  oft,  eat 
not."  "  And  when  they  come  from  the  market,  except 
they  baptize  {BanTlGuvTai) ^  "they  eat  not."  In  our  Eng- 
lish version  it  is  translated  wash.  Here  the  applica- 
tion of  a  small  quantity  of  water  to  a  small  portion 
of  the  body  is  called  a  baptism.  No  one  will  pretend, 
that  every  time  a  Jew  went  home  from  the  market,  he 
plunged  into  the  water  all  over.  We  learn  the  custom 
from  the  context ,  "  Except  they  wash  {vlipuvrai)  their 
bands  oft,  they  eat  not."     Says   St.   Mark :    "  Many 

*Acts  II.  16,  17. 


256  PITTS-STREET  CHAPEL  LECTURES. 

other  things  there  be,  which  they  have  received  to 
hold,  as  the  baptism  (BaTrncrpwf)  of  cups,  and  pots,  and 
brazen  vessels,  and  tables."*  In  our  version  it  is  ren- 
dered washings.  These  baptisms  were  purifications 
from  legal  or  ceremonial  uncleanness.  Does  anybody 
suppose,  that  every  time  a  table  or  a  couch  was  defiled 
by  the  merest  touch  of  something  legally  unclean,  that 
it  was  immersed  in  water  ?  The  thing  would  be  utterly 
impracticable.  Besides,  there  is  no  evidence  whatever 
that  the  Jews  ever  did  any  such  thing.  If  you  would 
know  what  these  baptisms  were,  and  how  they  were 
performed,  you  have  only  to  turn  to  the  Book  of  Num- 
bers,! where  the  whole  ceremony  is  described,  and 
consists  in  sprinkling  water  upon  the  furniture  to  be 
cleansed,  with  a  bunch  of  hyssop.  For  this  purpose 
families  were  supplied  with  "  water-pots  of  stone,  con- 
taining two  or  three  firkins  apiece."  J  The  word  bap- 
tize has  a  generic  meaning,  similar  to  our  English 
word  travel.  A  person  is  said  to  travel  when  he  walks 
when  he  rides  upon  a  horse,  when  he  sails  in  a  ship. 
A  person  is  baptized  when  lie  is  immersed,  when  he  is 
sprinkled,  and  when  water  is  poured  upon  him.  The 
ministers  of  the  Episcopal  Church  baptize  by  immer- 
sion, when  that  mode  is  required  by  those  who  are  to 
receive  it.  The  almost  universal  practice  is,  however, 
by  aspersion.    To  hold  to  immersion  as  the  only  mode 

=»*^Mark  vii.  4.  fNum.  xix.  18.  |  John  ii.  6. 


DR.    RANDALL'S   LECTURE.  257 

of  baptism,  would  involve  ministers  in  a  serious  di- 
lemma. The  command  of  Christ  is  to  "  go  into  all 
the  woiid  and  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature,  and 
baptize  them."  There  is  no  exception  made  in  favor 
of  any  class  whatever.  If  immersion  be  the  only 
mode,  then  a  person  who  is  on  a  dying  bed  cannot  be 
baptized.  If  he  have  an  acute  disease  in  his  body^  his 
soul  cannot  be  admitted  into  covenant  with  God,  and 
cannot  have  the  benefit,  that  pertains  to  a  covenant 
relation  to  God.  What  is  disease  but  a  fruit  of  the 
faU  ?  In  this  case  the  effect  of  sin  in  a  perishing  body  is 
made  an  effectual  barrier  against  the  admission  of  the 
soul  into  the  kingdom  of  God ;  for  Christ  has  said, 
—  "Except  a  man  be  born  of  water,  and  of  the 
Spirit,  he  caffnot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God."* 
Can  we  suppose  that  the  Savior  would  institute  any 
such  mode  of  admission  into  his  spiritual  kingdom,  as 
could  be  enjoyed  only  by  those  who  were  favored  with 
good  bodily  health  ?  What  has  the  condition  of  a 
man's  mortal  body  to  do  with  the  salvation  of  his  im- 
mortal  spirit  ?  Baptism  is  the  seal  of  the  covenant, 
and  may  be  applied  to  every  creature,  whatever  the 
condition  of  his  body.  Christ's  spiritual  kingdom  is 
brought  into  no  such  relationship  to  the  infirmities  of 
human  life,  and  the  salvation  of  the  soul  is  put  into 
no  such  condition  of  dependence,  upon  the  health  of  ' 


*  John  III.  5, 
22* 


258  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

the  body.     Leaving  the  doctrines  of  the  church,  we 
pass  to  a  brief  notice  of  its  worship. 

I  have  thus  far  considered  those  distinctive  princi- 
ples of  the  church  which  are  necessary  to  its  existence: 
the  Word,  the  Sacraments,  and  the  Ministry.  I  now 
proceed  to  consider  the  distinctive,  features  of  our 
church,  which,  though  important,  are  not  absolutely 
essential,  and  may  be  modified.* 

III.  The  public  services  of  the  sanctuary  are  con- 
ducted according  to  a  prescribed  form.  What  is  the 
authority  and  what  is  the  utility  of  a  Liturgy  ?  I 
hardly  need  remark,  that  forms  of  prayer  are  no  new 
thing.  If  you  ask  me  where  they  originated,  I  answer 
in  Heaven.  The  very  first  suggestion 'of  a  precom- 
posed  form  of  divine  service,  came  from  God  himself. 
Liturgies  are,  therefore,  no  human  invention. 

When  the  Tabernacle  had  been  erected,  and  the 
people  gathered  into  it,  God  gave  to  Moses  a  form  of 
words  wherewith  he  should  bless  the  people  when  they 
departed,  saying :  "  The  Lord  bless  thee,  and  keep 
thee,"  etc.f  When  an  Israelite  brought  to  the  priest 
"  the  first  fruits,"  he  was  required  to  repeat  a  certain 
form  of  words.  Just  before  the  death  of  Moses,  God 
commanded  him  to  write  a  song  commemorative  of 
God's  mercies,  which  the  Israelites  and  their  descend- 

^  Preface  to  the  Prayer  Book.  t  Num.  vi.  22-26 


DR.    RANDALL'S   LECTURE.  259 

ants  were  required  to  use.  In  the  synagogues  the  Jews 
had  a  Liturgy  in  the  time  of  Christ.  In  this  service  he 
himself  joined.  He  rebuked  the  Jews  for  many  things, 
but  never  for  using  a  Liturgy.  He  reproved  them  for 
formality^  but  never  for  using  forms  of  prayer.  He 
reproved  the  Pharisees  for  their  pride,  and  formality, 
and  long  "  prayers,  which  they  made  standing  at  the 
corners  of  the  streets,  to  be  seen  of  men*"  These 
prayers  were  made  to  attract  the  public  attention,  and 
so  to  win  the  praise  of  passers-by,  and,  therefore,  they 
were  probably  extemporaneous. 

The  Jews  had  never  been  accustomed  to  any  other 
than  a  Liturgical  form  of  worship.  When  John  the 
Baptist  appeared,  who  was  the  appointed,  forerunner 
of  Christ,  whose  ministry  was  not  of  the  Jewish  econ- 
omy, while  the  Christian  church  was  not  yet  estab- 
lished, he  very  naturally  prepared  a  service  suited  to 
his  peculiar  mission.  He  gave  to  his  disciples  a  form 
of  prayer. 

When  Christ  entered  upon  his  ministry,  he  con- 
tinued to  attend  upon  the  Temple  and  Synagogue 
service,  and  sometimes  took  part  in  that  service.* 
When  his  disciples  came  to  him,  with  the  request  that 
he  would  furnish  them  with  a  form  of  prayer,  as  John 
had  done  for  his  disciples,  he  did  not  say  that  John  did 
that,  which  was  indeed  allowed  in  the  Jewish  service, 

*Lixkeiv.  16,  20. 


260  PITTS-STREET  CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

but  was  not  to  be  permitted  in  the  more  spiritual  wor- 
ship of  the  Christian  Church.  So  far  from  this,  he 
immediately  framed  a  form  of  prayer,  gave  it  to  his 
disciples  and  told  them  to  use  it.  And  what  is  not  a 
little  remarkable,  this  form  is  taken  mainly  from  the 
Jewish  Liturgy.*  It  is  sometimes  objected  by  those 
who  are  not  accustomed  to  a  Liturgical  service,  that 
prayers  in  a  particular  form  of  words  cannot  come 
from  the  heart.  When  our  Savior  was  in  the  garden, 
on  the  night  of  his  betrayal,  he  prayed  in  the  midst  of 
the  agonies  of  that  awful  hour.  Think  you  the*prayer 
he  offered  to  his  Father,  did  not  come  from  his  heart  ? 
Yet  he  used  a  form  !  He  prayed  three  times,  using  the 
same  words.f  Again,  when  hanging  on  the  cross  he 
prayed.  Did  ever  mortal  man  doubt,  that  the  prayer 
upon  the  cross  came  from  the  heart  of  that  crucified 
Savior?  And  yet  that  prayer  was  a  form.  This  prayer 
was :  "  My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me ; " 
a  quotation  from  the  22d  Psalm.  The  last  sentence 
that  fell  from  his  lips,  ere  he  gave  up  the  ghost,  was 
taken  from  the  31st  Psalm  :  "  Father,  into  thy  hands 
I  commend  my  spirit."  Thus  the  Savior  of  the  world 
died  with  a. form  of  prayer  upon  his  lips.  The  Apos- 
tles, like  their  divine  master,  were  accustomed  to  the 
.  Liturgical  worship  of  the  Jews  ;  —  they,  with  him,  at- 
tended the  Temple  and  the  Synagogue  service.     Such 

*  Note  F.  t  Matthew  xxvi.  36,  44. 


DR.    RANDALL'S   LECTURE.  261 

was  the  strength  of  their  attachment  to  a  Liturgy,  and 
so  firm  the  habit  of  using  a  form,  that  on  the  occa- 
sion of  the  liberation  of  St.  Peter  from  prison,  when 
their  hearts  were  overflowing  with  joy,  and  when,  if 
ever,  they  would  spontaneously  express  their  gratitude 
in  an  extemporaneous  thanksgiving,  they  employed 
a  form,  "  they  lifted  up  their  voice  to  God  with  one 
accord,  and  said,"  &c.  The  form  has  been  recorded 
by  St.  Luke.  It  is  chiefly  from  a  Psalm  of  David.* 
"We  are  not  then  surprised  to  find  the  churches  which 
they  planted,  employing  forms  of  prayer  in  their  wor- 
ship. For  fifteen  hundred  years  Liturgies  were  every- 
where used  in  the  Church  of  Christ.  The  Christian 
VvTorld  was  pleasantly  surprised  some  years  ago,  by  the 
announcement  that  the  celebrated  traveller.  Dr.  Bu- 
chanan, had  discovered  a  church  of  Syrian  Christians 
w^io  had,  for  hundreds  of  years,  remained  in  conceal- 
ment from  the  Christian  world,  in  the  mountain  fast- 
ness of  the  coast  of  Malabar.  They  had  the  three 
orders  of  Bishops,  Priests,  and  Deacons,  and  they  had 
also  a  Liturgical  form  of  worship.  Their  tradition  is, 
that  St.  Thomas  visited  their  country  and  founded 
their  church.  They  have  thus  been  preserved  by  the 
great  Head  of  the  Church,  and  after  the  lapse  of  so 
many  ages,  come  forward  in  this  nineteenth  century, 
to  bear  their  testimony  to  Apostolic  doctrines  and 
usages. 

*  Acts  iv.  23;  30. 


262  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

* 

At  the  E-eformation  the  English  Church  retained  a 
prescribed  form  of  worship.  From  that  church  we  re- 
ceived the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  which,  with  a 
few  unimportant  alterations,  is  now  used  in  the  Pro- 
testant Episcopal  Church.*  The  spiritual"  excellency 
of  the  service,  and  the  divine  authority  for  forms  of 
prayer,  have  taught  us  to  heed  the  injunction  of  the 
Apostle,  to  '•'•  holdfast  the  form  of  sound  loordsP 

Many  of  the  Protestant  Communions,  who  do  not 
have  the  Apostolic  Ministry,  yet  retain  forms  of 
prayer.  It  may  be  safely  said,  that  about  nineteen 
twentieths  of  all  Christendom  have  some  kind  of  a 
Liturgy. 

We  see  then,  that  extemporaneous  modes  of  wor- 
ship are,  comparatively,  a  novelty,  and '  are  practised 
by  only  a  very  small  fraction  of  Christendom.  The 
difference  between  our  mode  of  worship  and  that  of 
those  denominations  of  Christians  around  us,  who  re- 
pudiate a  Liturgy,  is  not,  as  it  is  sometimes  stated,  a 
question  whether  divine  service  should  be  conducted 
with  a  form  of  prayer,  or  without  a  form  of  prayer. 
All  use  'deform.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  a  formless 
mode  of  worship.  They  who  pretend  to  discard  every 
appearance  of  form,  are  sometimes  the  most  formal. 
Thus  the  Quakers  are  rigidly  formal  in  their  worship. 

When  a  minister  rises  in  the  pulpit,  to  conduct  the 

^IToteG. 


•  DR.    RANDALL'S  J^ECTURE.  263 

services  of  public  worship,  he  says,  and  that  very 
properly :  '•''Let  us  pray.''''  What  does  he  mean  ? 
Simply  this  :  he  asks  the  congregation  to  unite  with 
him  in  prayer  to  Almighty  God.  He  does  not  say, 
let  me  pray  ;  but  let  us  pray, —  you  and  me.  Yet,  he 
is  the  only  person  who  prays  aloud.  How  then  are 
the  people  to  do  as  he  has  asked  them  to  do  ?  They 
are  to  pray  by  miiting  with  him  ;  i.  e.,  he  frames  a  pe- 
tition, speaks  it  aloud,  and  so  hands  it  over  to  them, 
and  they  take  it,  and  unite  with  him  in  offering  it  to 
God,  as  their  petition.  He  makes  the  form,  and  they 
use  it.  The  difference  then  between  such  and  our- 
selves is  this  :  that  inasmuch  as  we  must  have  a  form 
of  prayer,  they'prefer  to  ti'ust  to  their  minister  to  make 
it  for  them  on  the  occasion,  without  knowing  what  it 
is  to  be  ;  and  we  prefer  to  have  one  already  made 
which  we  know  all  about ;  so  that  we  pray  with  the 
spirit,  and  with  the  understanding  also.  The  Church 
proceeds,  in  matters  of  public  worship,  on  the  princi- 
ple, that  the  house  of  God  is  the  ^^  house  of  prayer ^ 
That  the  great  business  of  the  Lord's  people  on  the 
Lord's  day,  is  to  worship  him  in  the  beauty  of  holi- 
ness. The  people  cannot  commission  any  one  else  to 
do  this  for  them.  .  There  are  no  proxies  in  the  duties 
•of  religion.  We  cannot  delegate  to  another  a  duty 
which  God  requires  of  us.  Our  form  of  worship  is 
framed  upon  the  principle,  that  there  are  to  be  no  spec- 
tators in  the  congregation  of  God's  people.     All  sorts 


264  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL  LECTURES. 

♦ 

and  conditions  of  men  are  there  for  a  purpose,  antl 
that  purpose  is  the  worship  of  God.  One,  as  much 
as  another,  is  required  to  acknowledge  his  sinfulness, 
—  invoke  the  divine  forgiveness,  —  praise  God  for  his 
blessings,  and  ask  for  his  future  grace  and  guidance. 
All  then,  young  and  old,  should  join  in  the  services  of 
the  Sanctuary.  Some  good  people  seem  to  entertain 
the  idea,  that  prayer,  in  order  to  be  prayer,  must  he 
extemporaneous;  that  only  such  prayers  come  from 
the  heart.  They  -forget,  that  while  all  true  prayer 
does  come  and  must  come  from  the  heart,  i.  e.,  it  is 
and  must  be  the  sincere  language  of  the  soul,  yet 
words,  whether  extemporaneous  or  written,  do  not 
come  from  the  heart  but  from  the  head.  "What  God 
requires,  and  what  the  necessities  of  our  being  demand 
is,  that  the  words  we  use,  (and  which  serve  only  as  the 
vehicle  of  our  petitions),  should  be  such  as  properly 
and  reverently  express  our  sincere  desires  to  God. 
Prayers  are  not  orations.  They  are  not  addressed  to 
men,  but  to  God.  They  are  not  designed  to  produce 
an  effect  on  earth,  but  in  heaven.  God  is  not  particu- 
larly pleased  with  a  variety.  "  He  is  the  same  yester- 
day, to-day,  and  forever." 

Some  persons  fancy  that  they  should  tire  of  the  use 
of  the  same  modes  of  expression,  Sunday  after  Sunday^ 
The  proper  answer  to  such  is  this :  they  do  not  tire  of 
the  use  of  the  same  modes  of  expression,  Sunday  after 
Sunday,  where  they  now  are.     If  the  extemporaneous 


DR.  Randall's  lecture.  ^G5 

prayers  of  the  most  gifted  minister,  were  to  be  writ- 
ten down,  as  he  offers  them,  on  every  bccasion  of 
public  worship,  for.  the  space  of  a  year,  it  would  be 
found  that  there  is  but  a  very  little  variety  in  the  de- 
votional exercises  of  his  pulpit.  Again,  if  some  of 
our  beloved  brethren  in  other  societies,  were  as  famil- 
iar with  the  Prayer  Book,  as  they  might  be,  they 
would  know  to  what  source  they  are  sometimes  in- 
debted, for  some  of  the  choicest  passages  in  the  ex- 
temporaneous prayers  of  their  Pastors.  Man  is  so 
constituted  that  he  cannot  serve  two  masters  at  the 
same  time,  either  in  his  inner  or  in  his  outer  life. 
A  deep  exercise  of  devotion  and  an  active  exercise  of 
the  mind  cannot  well  be  carried  on,  in  the  same  soul 
at  one  and  the  same  time.  If  the  mind  of  a  minister 
is  in  a  deep  study  as  to  what  he  shall  say  and  how 
he  shall  say  it,  while  he  is  thus  engaged  in  searching 
after  thoughts  and  suitable  language  in  which  to 
ck)the  them,  there  cannot  be  a  very  lively  exercise  of 
the  spirit  of  pure  devotion  in  his  heart.  But  what 
is  the  condition  of  the  hearers  in  the  mean  time? 
Their  minds  are  exercised,  because  they  must  be  on 
the  alert,  since  they  know  not  what  is  coming.  And 
when  the  words  come,  it  may  be  that  they  are  not 
all  of  them  suitable,  or  are  not  grammatically  express- 
ed, or  come- after  much  stammering  and  hesitation,  or 
they  are  in  the  form  of  petitions  for  things,  which  the 

worshipper  does  not  want.     The  involuntary  response 
23  -• 


26^  PITTS-STP.EET    CHAPEL    LECTURES 

of  his  mind  is :  "I  do  not  agree  to  that."  Now  amid 
this  various  mental  activity  what  has  become  of  the 
spirit  of  devotion,  the  earnest  feeling  of  supplication, 
the  real  soul  of  all  prayer?  It  is  well  nigh  strangled 
in  this  unhappy  conflict  of  thought.  Let  us  for  a 
moment  see  how  these  objections,  to  an  extempora- 
neous mode  of  worship  are  obviated ^in  the  use  of  the 
Liturgy  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church.  When 
the  worshipper  enters  the  Church,  he  feels  that  he  is 
entering  the  house  of  God.  There  is  to  him  a  sanc- 
tity pertaining  to  it,  which  does  not  attach  to  any 
other  place,  since,  when  once  consecrated  to  the  wor- 
ship of  God,  it  is  "  separated  from  all  unhallowed, 
worldly,  and  common  uses."  *  He  takes  ofl"  his  hat 
when  he  enters  the  door,  and  he  does  not  put  it  on 
until  he  passes  out  of  the  door.  He  does  not  do  in 
the  house  of  God,  wha+  would  be  deemed  disrespect- 
ful in  the  house  of  his  neighbor.  On  taking  his  seat, 
he  bows  his  head  and  silently  invokes  God's  blessii^g. 
Very  soon  the  minister  appears,  clad  in  his  clerical 
robes.  But  some  of  my  hearers  may  say,  but  tell  us, 
what  is  the  authority  and  utility  of  clerical  vestments  ? 
I  am  happy  to  answer,  for  I  am  here  for  the  purpose 
of  explanation.  As  to  the  authority,  1  have  only  to 
say,  that  God  has  once,  in  the  Mosaic  dispensation, 
expressed    His    pleasure  in   this  regard,  and  He   has 

*  Office  of  Cousecratiou.  . 


267 


never  annulled  thai  expression  of  His  will.  It  was  in 
His  view  fitting,- that  his  ministers  should  wear  a 
vestment,  when  officiating  at  His  altar,  which  they 
did  not  wear  on  any  other  occasion.  The  lon^  cus- 
tom of  the  Christian  Church  has  sanctioned  the  use 
of  clerical  robes.  Although  we  have  no  positive  law 
on  the  subject,  yet  it  is  proper  that  a  minister  in  the 
House  of  God,  should  appear  in  a  habit,  which  is 
peculiar  to  the  services  of  the  Sanctuary,  and  being 
worn  on  no  other  occasions,  is  identified  with  the  min- 
isterial office.  Again:  it  serves  to  remove  from  the 
minds  of  the  congregation,  all  occasion  for  the  indul- 
gence of  idle  and  wandering  thoughts.  It  matters 
not  who  is  to  officiate,  whether  their  own  Rector  or  a 
stranger;  there  is  no  temptation  to  curious  specula- 
tion as  to  his  appearance,  whether  well  or  ill  clad,  in 
fashion  or  out  of  fashion.  All  frivolous  distinctions 
of  this  sort,  which  serve  to  distract  the  attention  of 
the  congregation  are  effectually  and  happily  concealed. 
In  this  regard  all  ministers  are  on  an  equality.  The 
mind  of  the  worshipper  is  at  once  put  to  rest,  as  to 
the  mode  of  the  service,  whoever  may  be  the  officiat- 
ing clergyman.  His  spirit  of  devotion  is  exposed  to 
no  serious  disturbance,  as  to  the  matter  of  the  prayers 
or  the  manner  of  conducting  the  services.  The  wor- 
shipper has  nothing  to  do,  but  to  pour  out  his  heart  as 
best  he  can  in  prayer  and  praise,  and  devoutly  listen  to 
the  teachinofs  of  the  Word  of  God.     It  is  sometimes 


268  PITTS-STREET    CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

objected  that  there  are  many  and  unmeaning  changes 
of  position  in  our  service.  It  is  very  true,  there  are 
in  our  mode  of  worship  frequent  changes  of  position. 
When  we  pray  we  kneel ;  when  we  praise  we  stand ; 
when  we  listen  to  the  Word  we  sit.  Our  position  is 
made  to  conform  to  the  nature  of  the  particular 
service  in  which  we  are  engaged.  These  frequent 
changes,  so  far  from  being  objectionable,  physically 
considered  are  a  relief,  since  they  serve  to  prevent 
the  fatigue  which  necessarily  attends,  a  long  continu- 
ance in  one  position. 

As  all  persons  have  not  a  voice  to  sing,  and  yet  all 
persons  ought  to  join  audibly  in  some  form  of  praise, 
the  church  provides  that  a  portion  of  the  Psalms  of 
David  shall  be  read  responsively,  by  minister  and 
people,  morning  and  evening.  A  lesson  from  the  Old 
Testament  and  one  from  the  New  are  also  read  both 
morning  and  evening.  In  addition  to  these  some  part 
of  one  of  the  Epistles  and  a  portion  of  one  of  the 
Gospels,  together  with  the  Ten  Commandments,  are 
read  in  the  morning.  There  is  no  service  in  any  part 
of  Christendom,  where  provision  is  made  for  the  daily 
reading  of  so  much  Holy  Scripture  as  in  the  Church 
of  England  and  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in 
the  United  States.  At  every  service  we  are  required 
to  repeat  the  articles  of  our  belief,  in  the  form  of  a 
creed.  The  church  has  a  creed,  because  she  is  the 
Church.     There  can  be  no  such  thing  as  a  Christian 


DR.    RANDALL'S   LECTURE.  269 

Church  without  a  Christian  creed.  There  are  some 
persons,  I  am  aware,  who  affect  to  have  no"  creed. 
But  Christ  has  effectually  settled  the  practicability  of 
such  a  theological  anomaly.  Nobody  can  go  to  heaven 
without  a  creed.  Creed  is  belief.  Christ  has  said, 
"  He  that  believeth  not  sliall  be  damned^ 

The  services  of  the  church  are  so  arranged  that 
every  prominent  event  in  the  Savior's  life,  every  car- 
dinal doctrine  of  the  Gospel,  are  regularly  brought  to 
the  attention  of  the  congregation  throughout  the  year, 
so  that,  if  Ijie  people  are  not  thoroughly  instructed  in 
every  part  of  the  Gospel  system  of  salvation,  it  is 
1;heir  own  fault.  The  church  is  too  good  a  mother  to 
•her  children  to  entrust  so  vital  a  matter  to  the  faith- 
fulness of  her  individual  ministers.  A  minister  may 
be  false  to  his  charge  —  he  may  swerve  from  the  faith; 
but  however  unsound  he  may  be  in  the  pulpit,  he  is 
compelled* to  be  Orthodox  in  the  reading  desk;  and 
when  the  desk  and  the  pulpit  begin  to  contradict  each 
other,  the  people  will  soon  discover  that  something  is 
out  of  joint,  and  will  take  measures  to  have  the  un- 
sound member  reduced  or  cut  off.  "  The  Church  of 
Christ  is  the  ground  and  pillar  of  the  truth ; "  as  such, 
it  is,  and  ever  is  to  be,  the  great  Conservator  of  the 
Truth.  It  is  the  divinely  ordained  Guardian  of  the 
"  Faith*  once  delivered  to  the  Saints."  The  most 
effectual  instrumentality  of  doing  this  office  is  by- 
means  of  a  liturgy.     It  is,  under  God,  the  great  safe- 

23* 


270  PITTS-STREET    CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

guard  of  the  people.  The  devil  never  shows  his  mar- 
vellous skill  more  effectually,  than  when  he  seeks  to 
undermine  the  faith  of  Christians.  He  rarely,  if 
ever,  begins  with  the  laity.  He  would  make  but  slow 
headway  if  he  did;  for  if  he  succeeded  in  making  an 
apostate,  he  would  only  count  one.  But  if  he  can 
poison  the  mind  of  a  minister,  and  make  a  heretic  of 
him,  he  has  seized  hold  of  the  long  end  of  a  lever, 
with  which  he  may  tip  a  whole  congregation  out  of 
the  Ark  of  Salvation.  A .  minister  who  is  not  tied  to 
a  liturgy  will. do  as  much  mischief  in  praying  heresy, 
as  he  ^ill  in  preaching  it ;  so  that  by  skilfully  con- 
forming his  prayers  to  his  preaching,  the  change  is* 
unperceived  until  it  has  become  so  great,  that  it  can 
no  longer  be  disguised,  and  then  it  is  too  late  to  avert 
the  consequences.* 

The  propriety  and  necessity  of  a  liturgy  have  been 
acknowledged  by  distinguished  non-Episcopal  divines. 
The  Presbyterians,  in  the  time  of  Cromwell,  under- 
took to  conduct  public  worship  after  an  extemporane- 
ous manner;  they  soon  changed  their  mind,  and 
adopted  a  form  of  prayer.  The  Presbyterians  of 
Scotland,  at  the  Reformation,  used  a  liturgy.  Rich- 
ard Baxter  prepared  a  liturgy,  and  sought  to  have  it 
introduced  into  public  use.  John  Wesley  set  forth  a 
liturgy  for  the  use  of  the  Methodists  in  this  country 


*  Note  H. 


''^':mmvfM 


DR.    RANDALL'S   LECTURE.  271 

John  Calvin,  at  Geneva,  composed  a  liturgy  for  the 
Sunday  service.  Of  the  excellence  of  the  English 
Prayer  Book,  of  which  our  own  is  almost  an  exact 
copy,  Dr.  Adam  Clark,  the  distinguished  Methodist, 
thus  speaks :  "  It  is  the  gi-eatest  effort  of  the  Refor- 
mation, next  to  the  translation  of  the  Scriptures  into 

the  English  language As  a  form  of  devotion 

it  has  no  equaj  in  any  part  of  the  Universal  Church 

of  God Next  to  the  Bible,  it  is  the  Book  of 

my  understanding,  and  of  my  heart."  Robert  Hall, 
the  eloquent  English  Baptist,  thus  speaks  of  it :  "I 
believe  that  the .  evangelical  purity  of  its  sentiments, 
the  chastened  fervor  of  its  devotions,  and  the  majestic 
simplicity  of  its  language,  have  combined  to  place  it  ' 
in  the  very  first  rank  of  uninspired  compositions."  Dr. 
Doddridge,  the  eminent  commentator,  who  was  a 
Congregationalist,  thus  speaks  of  it :  "  The  language 
is  so  plain  as  to  be  level  to  the  capacity  of  the  mean- 
est, and  yet  the  sense  is  so  noble  as  to  raise  the  capaci- 
ties of  the  greatest."  These  are  the  voluntary  testi- 
monies of  a.  Methodist  J  Baptist^  and  Congregationalist^ 
of  whom  the  least  that  can  be  said  is,  that  they  were 
the  first  among  their  equals.  We  come  now  to  the 
consideration  of  the  last  of  the  distinctive  principles 
of  the  Episcopal  Church,  which  is,  its  Polity. 

IV.  The  government  of  the   Church  is    Episcopal 
because  its  chief  ministers  are  Bishops,  and  not  be- 


272  PITTS-STREET  CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

cause  it  is  chiefly  governed  by  Bishops.  The  Bishops 
in  our  church  have  but  little  ecclesiastical  power. 
Their  duty  is  to  ordain  Deacons,  and  in  conjunction 
with  the  Presbytery,  to  admit  Deacons  to  the  Priest- 
hood,—  to  consecrate  churches,  —  preside  at  conven- 
tions, and  to  perform  the  Apostolic  rite  of  Confirma- 
tion, or  the  laying  of  hands  on  baptized  persons,  who 
desire  to  take  upon  themselves  their  baptismal  vows 
and  thereby  make  a  profession  of  their  faith  before 
the  world.  This  custom,  commenced  by  the  Apostles, 
has  been  continued  in  the  church  from  that  day  to  this.* 
The  government  of  the  church  is  purely  republican. 
It  is  strikingly  analogous  to  that  of  the  Municipal, 
State,  and  General  Government,  in  this  country.  I 
cannot  better  describe  it,  than  by  giving  a  brief  outline 
of  its  practical  operation.  A  number  of  laymen  meet 
together  and  organize  a  parish,  by  the  choice  of  two 
Wardens  and  a  Board  of  Vestry -men.  To  them  is  com- 
mitted the  management  of  all  the  temporal  affairs  oi 
the  parish.  The  members  of  the  parish  choose  theii 
own  minister.  Once  a  year,  on  Easter  Monday, 
parish  meetings  are  held  for  the  choice  of  parish  offi- 
cers, and  for  the  election  of  delegates  to  the  Diocesan 
Convention.  These  lay  delegates,  with  the  ministers 
of  the  several  parishes,  meet  annually  in  Convention. 
The  Bishop  presides,  but  has  no  other  voice  than  that  of 

*NoteK. 


273 

a  presiding  oiiicer.  The  clergy  and  laity  assemble  to- 
gether, but  form,  in  fact,  two  distinct  houses ;  and  when 
it  is  so  required  by  any  delegation,  they  must  vote 
separately.  In  such  a  case  there  must  be  a  concur- 
rence of  both  orders,  the  clerical  and  the  lay.  Thus 
the  laity  represent  the  House  of  Representatives  in 
our  State  Legislature,  —  the  clergy,  the  Senate,  and 
the  Bishop,  the  Governor.  This  Diocesan  Convention 
appoint  a  Standing  Committee,  consisting  of  three 
laymen,  and  three  clergymen  who  are  a  Council  of 
Advice  to  the  Bishop.  The  Bishop  has  no  right  to 
ordain  a  Deacon  or  a  Priest  until  the  consent  and  rec- 
ommendation of  this  Committee  is  first  obtained. 
This  Committee  answers  to  the  Governor' s  Council. 
The  State,  or  Diocesan  Convention  choose  four  clergy- 
men and  four  laymen  to  represent  the  Diocese,  or 
State,  in  the  General  Convention.  This  General  Con- 
vention meets  once  in  three  years,  and  consists  of  like 
delegations,  from  every  diocese  in  the  Union,  where 
the  church  has  an  organization.  The  Bishops  of  the 
church  meet  by  themselves,  and  answer  to  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States.  The  clerical  and  lay  deputies 
meet  together  and  organize,  by  choosing  one  of  their 
number  as  President.  Both  laity  and  clergy  com- 
monly vote  together  ;  but  if  the  delegation  of  any  dio- 
cese require  it,  the  vote  must  be  taken  by  orders,  the 
clergy  and  laity  voting  separately  ;  and  there  must  be 
a  concurrence  of  both  orders,  or  the  vote  is  not  carried. 


274  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL  LECTURES. 

A  measure  must  have  the  concurrence  of  the  House  of 
Bishops,  before  it  can  become  a  law.  The  influence 
of  the  laity  in  the  legislation  of  the  church  may  be 
seen  by  this  illustration.  If  a  measure  should  pass 
the  House  of  Bishops  by  a  unanimous  vote,  and 
coming  to  the  lower  house,  should  receive  the  vote  of 
every  clergyman,  and  then  should  be  lost  by  one  ma- 
jority on  the  part  of  the  laity,  it  could  not  become  a 
law.  Such  is  the  organization  of  our  National  Eccle- 
siastical Congress,  which  commonly  embraces  many 
of  the  ablest  men  in  the  church. 

Our  polity  secures  healthful  discipline.  Every  cler- 
gyman must  belong  to  some  Episcopal  jurisdiction. 
There  can  be  no  such  thing  as  an  Episcopal  clergy- 
man at  large.  If  a  stranger  present  himself  to  me  as 
a  clergyman  of  the  church,  the  first  question  is : 
Where  do  you  belong  ?  He  cannot  call  himself  a 
cosmopolite,  —  as  belonging  every  where,  and  having  a 
home  nowhere.  He  must  have  a  canonical,  if  not  a 
"  local  habitation."  If  he  answer :  Kansas,  Texas, 
Oregon,  or  California,  I  have  only  to  turn  to  the  list 
of  the  clergy  in  that  diocese  and  ascertain  the  fact. 

Our  parishes  choose  their  own  ministers  ;  but  th^y 
do  not  make  them,  and  they  cannot  unmake  them;  nor 
can  they  retain  them  after  the  church  has  suspended  or 
degraded  them.  If  a  clergyman  commits  a  crime,  for 
which  he  should  be  displaced  from  the  Ministry,  he  is 
tried  by  an  Ecclesiastical  Ccurt,  and  if  found  guilty 


DR.   RANDALL'S  LECTURE.        "  275 

and  sentenced  to  be  degraded,  that  sentence  is  passed 
upon  him,  and  he  is  at  once  put  out  of  the  Ministry, 
and  this  fact  is  forthwith  communicated  to  every  dio- 
cese in  the  United  States.  He  cannot  henceforth  offi- 
ciate anywhere  as*an  Episcopal  clergyman,  nor  is  there 
any  canonical  provision  for  his  future  restoration  to 
the  Ministry.  It  matters  not  how  influential  his  par- 
ish. They  may  love  him  so  well  as  to  wink  at  his 
crime  ;  they  may  -be  more  than  willing  to  forgive  ; 
they  may  seek  to  cover  up  his  iniquity,  and  strive  to 
white-wash  the  stain  of  his  criminality,  but  the  church 
stretches  out  the  hand  of  her  discipline,  and  takes  him 
from  these  fond  admirers,  and  puts  him  upon  his  trial 
by  a  court  composed  of  his  peers.  He  has  committed 
an  offence  against  the  church,  against  the  cause  of 
Christ,  to  the  scandal  of  true  religion,  and  the  church 
is  bound  to  protect  that  religion,  by  purging  herself  of 
a  corrupt  member.*  His  parish  is  as  impotent  as  is 
the  family  of  a  man,  who  has  committed  a  high  crime 
and  has  been  arrested  by  the  civil  authority.  What  a 
contrast  between  such  a  discipline  and  that  which  ob- 
tains in  other  systems,  where  a  congregation  have 
only  to  throw  their  arms  around  their  minister,  how- 
ever corrupt,  and  he  maintains  his  position  as  their 
preacher,  to  the  great  reproach  of  religion.  And 
should  he  be  tried  and  found  guilty,  and  sentenced  to 

*  Note  L. 


276  PITTS-STREET  CHAPEL  LECTURES. 

degradation  from  the  Ministry,  there  is  no  power  to 
execute  it ;  and  he  may,  if  he  please,  go  back  to  his 
former  congregation,  if  they  will  have  him,  or  gather 
a  new  one,  perhaps  in  the  midst  of  the  scene  of  his 
iniquity.  • 

Such  are  some  of  the  distinctive  principles  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  as  seen  in  its  Ministry, 
Doctrines,  Worship,  and  Polity.  I  am  glad  to  say, 
that  some  of  the  distinctive  features  of  the  ^^iscopal 
Church  are  becoming  less  distinctive.  The  features 
themselves  remain  in  all  their  fullness,  but  they  are 
becoming  less  and  less  distinctive,,  in  consequence  of 
the  happy  and  very  promising  changes,  which  are 
going  on  in  other  religious  bodies  about  us.  The 
time  was,  when  an  educated  ministry,  Gothic  church 
edifices,  the  use  of  organs,  chanting  in  public  service, 
the  word  Church  as  signifying  a  place  of  worship, 
the  term  "  going  to  church,"  observing  the  festival 
of  Christmas,  the  decoration  of  churches  with  ever- 
greens at  that  festive  season,  using  a  Liturgy,  Avear- 
ing  clerical  vestments,  were  distinctive  features  of  the 
Episcopal  Church,  but  they  are  so  no  longer.  Once, 
special  pains  were  taken,  in  the  erection  of  a  place 
of  worship  to  have  square  windows,  and  these,  in 
two  rows  like  a  dwelling-house,  —  to  secure  the  sever- 
est simplicity  in  the  architecture.  These  places  of 
worship  were  called  "  meeting-houses,"  and  attendance 
at  divine  worship  was  termed  ^'-  going  to  meeting.''^     It 


DR.  Randall's  lecture.  277 

would  be  regarded  as  hardly  less  than  an  insult,  to 
apply  these  terms  at  the  present  day.  Once,  it  was 
considered  a  sin  to  have  instrumental  music  in  the 
Sanctuary,  while  there  is  now  hardly  a  place  of  wor- 
ship, in  city  or  town,  that  does  not  have  an  organ. 
And  it  is  by  no  means  uncommon  to  hear  the  church 
chants  beautifully  sung,  in  the  congregations  of  the 
various  religious  bodies.  If  a  stranger  were  to  con- 
clude that  every  ^ne  gothic  edifice  he  saw  now-a-days, 
was  an  Episcopal  Church,  he  would  make  a  great  mis- 
take. The  denominations,  who  in  former  days  in- 
veighed most  strongly  against  an  educated  ministry, 
have  now  more  colleges  than  the  Episcopal  Chm-ch. 
The  gown  is  becoming  a  very  common  clerical  vest- 
ment. As  to  crosses,  if  we  were  to  place  gilt  crosses 
upon  our  churches,  as  some  of  our  Congregational 
brethren  are  doing,  in  this  good  old  Puritan  State  of 
Massachusetts,  we  should  no  doubt  be  called  Puseyites. 
But  crosses  will  not  harm  them  ;  they  never  harmed 
us,  though  their  appearance  has  caused  much  alarm  in 
times  past.  The  recent  introduction  of  Liturgies 
into  public  worship,  among  several  denominations,  is 
one  of  the  most  significant  signs  of  an  inclination  to 
return  to  primitive  usage.  There  is  one  other  pleas- 
ing and  promising  evidence  of  progress  in  the  right 
direction.  It  is  the  fact,  that  so  large  a  proportion  of 
our  clergy  are  from  the  various  denominations.  The 
late  Bishop  Griswold  stated  in  1841,  that  of  two  hun- 

24 


278  PITTS-STREET  CHAPEL  LECTURES. 

dred  and  eighty-five  clergymen  ordained  by  him,  two 
hundred  and  seven  of  them,  came  into  the  ministry 
of  the  Episcopal  Church,  from  other  denominations. 
There  are  at  the  present  time  upwards  of  eighteen 
hundred  clergymen  in  the  Episcopal  Church,  about 
twelve  hundred  of  whom,  it  is  estimated,  came  into 
the  church  from  other  folds.  May  the  change  con- 
tinue to  go  on,  until  not  only  the  features  but  the 
principles  of  the  Church  shall  be  less  anc^  less  dis- 
tinctive ;  —  until  there  "  shall  be  but  one  fold  and  one 
shepherd." 

With  a  ministry  so  Apostolic,  with  a  Liturgy  so 
evangelical,  with  a  Polity  so  purely  republican,  do 
you  wonder,  that  I  am  a  Churchman,  and  never  can 
be  any  thing  else?  Do  you  not  wonder  that  you 
yourselves  are  not? 

But  let  us  never  lose  sight  of  the  important  fact, 
that  the  church,  and  ministry,  and  worship,  are  not  an 
end^  but  a  means.  The  end  is  the  salvation  of  the 
soul,  and  the  glory  of  God.  The  conditions  of  that 
salvation  are,  repentance  of  sin  and  faith  in  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  May  God  graciously  grant  us 
His  Holy  Spirit,  that  we  may  all  comply  with  these 
conditions  and  through  the  merits  of  Christ's  righ- 
teousness, find  a  place  at  His  right  hand,  in  His  King- 
dom above,  to  go  no  more  out  forever.     Amen. 


DE.  Randall's  lecture.  279 


NOTES. 

Note  A.  —  The  Puritans  of  New  England  held  that  religious  toleration 
was  wrong.  When  they  left  England  for  America,  it  was  not  for  the 
purpose  of  maintaining  tod  enjoying  the  principle  of  toleration.  This 
point  is  susceptible  of  abundant  proof;  hence  their  perfect  consistency, 
though  great  wickedness,  in  hanging  the  Quaker,  banishing  the  Baptist, 
and  imprisoning  the  Churchman.  Hutchinson  says  "  that  toleration  was 
preached  against  as  a  sin  in  rulers,  which  would  bring  down  the  judg- 
ments of  Heaven  upon  the  land."  —  Hist.  I.  75. 

Says  Judge  Story :  "  When  Sir  Richard  Saltonstall  wrote  to  them  his 
admirable  letter,  which  pleads  with  such  Catholic  enthusiasm  for  tolera- 
tion, the  harsh  and  brief  reply  was^:  '  God  forbid  our  love  for  truth  should 
be  grown  so  cold  that  we  should  tolerate  errors.'  —  Yes,  the  very  men 
who  asked  from  Charles  the  Second,  after  his  restoration,  liberty  of  con- 
science and  worship  for  themselves,  were  deaf,  and  dumb,  and  blind, 
when  it  was  demanded  by  his  commissioners  for  Episcopalians  and  oth- 
ers."—  Story's  Misc.  p.  65. 

The  Puritans  felt  much  aggrieved  by  the  burdens  laid  upon  them  in 
England,  for  the  support  of  the  established  church.  But  as  soon  as  they 
have  a  State  of  their  own,  they  not  only  join  the  church  to  it,  but  compel 
Churchmen  to  pay  for  the  support  of  their  Congregational  worship.  The 
manner  of  enforcing  the  collection  of  this  tax  is  illusti-atcd  by  a  case 
which  occurred  in  the  town  of  Stratford,  Conn.  "  The  Episcopal  parish 
objected  to  paying  taxes  to  the  Congregationalists,  on  the  ground  that 
they  were  legally  exempt  by  the  law  of  England ;  and  upon  their  refusal, 
Timothy  Titherton,  one  of  the  church  wardens,  and  John  Marey,  one  of 
the  vestrymen,  were  arrested  about  midnight,  Dec.  12,  1780,  and  com- 
pelled to  walk  eight  miles  to  jail,  where  they  were  confined  without  fi<"e  or 
light  until  they  paid  the  sums  demanded." —  Chapin's  Puritanism,  p.  121. 

Note  B.  —  The  Methodists  have  a  Liturgy,  in  the  form  of  certain 
ofiicos,  wliich  they  rarely  use.    Their  Bishops  have  a  degree  of  ecclesias- 


280  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES.  * 

tical  power,  which  more  nearly  approaches  that  of  the  Bishops  of  the 
Church  of  Rome  than  any  Protestant  body  of  Christians  in  the  world. 
The  people  have  no  voice  in  the  choice  of  their  preachers.  The  preachers 
have  no  voice  as  to  their  locality.  At  the  annual  conferences,  the  Bishops 
assign  to  each  minister  his  place  for  the  year ;  and  no  preacher  can  re- 
main in  one  parish  more  than  two  years  consecutively.  The  laity  have 
no  representation  in  their  conferences,  and,  therefore,  no  vote  in  ecclesi- 
astical legislation.  In  no  Protestant  communion  are  the  laity  so  com- 
pletely excluded  from  the  management  of  the  general  affairs  of  their 
church,  as  among  the  Methodists. 

The  evils  of  this  feature  of  their  polity  are  beginning  to  be  felt. 
This  feeling  of  dissatisfaction  led  to  a  division  in  1830.  The  seceders 
organized  their  sect,  on  the  principles  of  Congregationalism.  They  have 
thirteen  hundred  preachers,  and  sixty  thousand  members,  and  are  called 
Protestant  Methodists.  Another  division  took  place  in  1847.  This  division 
call  themselves  the  True  Wesleyan  Methodist  Church.  They  have  about 
six  hundred  preachers  and  twenty  thousand  members. 

Note  C.  —  "  Timothy  was  ordained  an  Apostle  by  the  laying  on  of 
the  hands  of  St.  Paul."  —  2  Tim.  1.  6. 

Some  allege  that  the  passage  in  1  Tim.  iv.  14,  refers  to  Timothy's 
ordination.  "  Eminent  authority  has  declared  the  word  'Presbytery'  to 
mean  the  office  to  which  "  Timothy  was  ordained,  not  the  persons  who  or- 
dained him ;  so  that  the  passage  would  read,  "  with  the  laying  on  of 
hands  to  confer  the  presbyterate,'  or  presbytership,  or  clerical  office,  in 
which  view  the  ordainer  of  Timothy  was  St.  Paul  himself,  as  mentioned 
in  2  Tim.  i.  6. 

"Jerome,  Ambrose,  and  other  ancients,  and  Calvin,  interpret  *  preshy- 
terium,'  in  that  place,  not  an  assembly,  but  the  office  to  which  Timothy 
was  promoted."  "  Should  it  be  said,  however,  that  the  word  '  presbyter- 
ate, or  presbytership,'  proves  Timothy  to  have  been  then  ordained  a  pres- 
byter merely,  we  would  neutralize  that  argument  by  appealing  to  1  Thess. 
li.  6,  (comp.  with  i.  1,)  where  he  is  called  an  Apostle." — **  Episcopacy 
Tested  hy  Scripture,^'  pp.  19,  20. 


DR.    RANDALL'S   LECTURE.  281 

Note  D.  — It  has  been  a  law  of  the  church,  from  the  Apostolic  age, 
that  the  ministerial  commission  can  only  come  from  Christ,  through  the 
Apostles,  in  an  unbroken  succession.  So  important  did  the  church  con- 
sider this  to  be,  that  she  made  a  rule,  that  at  every  consecration  of  a 
Bishop,  there  should  be,  at  Icast,^  three  Bishops  present  and  joining  in 
the  laying  on  of  hands,  sa  that  if,  in  the  cours'e  of  time,  a  break  should 
occur  in  any  single  line  •(which  has  never  yet  been  shown),  there  are 
others  which  still  hold  good.  The  burden  of  proof  lies  upon  those  who, 
denying  this  Apostolic  succession,  assert  that  there  has  been  a  break,  to 
show  where  and  when  this  break  took  place. 

Note  E.  —  Tertullian,  a  Presbyter  of  Carthage,  in  the  second  cen- 
tury, is  sometimes  quoted  as  authority  against  infant  baptism.  It  is 
true  he  did  oppose  infant  baptism.  But  why  ?  Because  it  was  a  novelty 
— because  it  was  not  Apostolic  '?  O,  no ;  but  because  he  was  a  follower 
of  a  man  by  the  name  of  Montanus,  who  called  himself  "  the  Comforter 
promised  by  Christ  to  His  disciples,"  and  pretending  to  be  inspired,  had 
the  wicked  presumption  to  say  that  Chi-ist  had  conceded  too  much  to  the 
weakness  of  the  people,  and  so  had  given  an  imperfect  rule  of  life. 
Hence  Montanus  laid  down  very  severe  rules  of  religion,  and  Tertullian, 
being  naturally  an  austere  man,  embraced  his  sentiments,  and  became 
his  ablest  defender.  Among  other  strange  notions  indulged  by  Tertul- 
lian, was  this :  "  that  sin  after  baptism  could  hardly  be  pardoned." 
Hence  it  was  that  he  argued  for  the  delay  of  the  baptism  of  infants.  For 
the  same  reason  he  would  have  adults  of  certain  dispositions  put  off  the 
reception  of  this  Sacrament.  The  very  fact  of  such  an  objection  from 
such  a  man  is  a  strong  argument  in  favor  of  infant  baptism,  inasmuch  as 
it  shows  that,  in  the  second  century,  infant  baptism  was  practised,  and 
was  not  objected  to  because  it  was  an  innovation,  but  because  of  a  heret- 
ical notion  about  sin  after  baptism. 

Note  F.  —  "  A  learned  Rabbi  tells  us  that  Ezra  composed  eighteen 

forms  of  prayer,  which  were  enjoined  by  the  Great  Council,  that  cverj 

man  might  have  them  in  his  mouth ;  "  to  which  he  adds  a  statement  of 

the  custom  which  prevailed,  that  the  people  should  say  "  Amen," — 
24* 


282  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

Kip's  Double  Witness.      These  eighteen  prayers  may  be  fininci  in  "  Pri- 
deaux's  Connections.'* 

In  Home's  Introduction,  Vol.  III.,*may  be  found  the  following  ex- 
tract from  the  Jewish  Liturgy,  with  which  our  Savior  was  familiar,  and 
from  which  He  mainly  took  tlie  petitions  embodied  in  the  form  which  he 
gave  to  his  disciples  :  "  Our  Father,  which  art  in  heaven,  be  gracious 
unto  us.  Oh  Lord,  our  God  ;  hallowed  be  Thy  name,  and  let  the  remem- 
brance of  Thee  be  glorified  in  heaven  above,  and  upon  earth  here  below. 
Let  Thy  kingdom  reign  over  us  now  and  forever.  The  holy  men  of 
old  said,  remit  and  forgive  unto  all  men,  whatsoever  they  have  done 
against  me.  And  lead  us  not  into  temptation,  but  deliver  us  from 
the  evil  thing.  For  Thine  is  the  kingdom,  and  Thou  shall  reign  in 
glory  forever,  and  forevermore." 

Note  G.  —  Before  the  Reformation,  the  Liturgy  was  only  in  Latin, 
and  was  much  the  same  as  the  present  Roman  breviary  and  missal.  One 
of  the  fruits  of  the  Reformation  was  the  purging  of  the  Liturgy  of  cor- 
rupt innovations,  and  its  translation  into  English.  "  Edward  VI.  ap- 
pointed the  Archbishop  of,  Canterbury,  with  other  learned  and  discreet 
Bishops  and  Divines,  to  draw  an  order  of  divine  worship,  having  res- 
pect to  the  pure  religion  of  Christ,  taught  in  the  Scripture,  and  to  the 
practice  of  the  Primitive  Church."  It  was  the  wish  of  Cranmer  and  his 
associates  to  retain  whatever  was  sanctioned  by  Scripture  and  primitive 
usage,  and  to  reject  nothing  but  what  savored  of  superstition  or  tended 
to  errors  in  doctrine  and  worship.  Many  of  the  collects  retained  by 
them,  and  which  now  make  a  part  of  our  Prayer  Brok,  have  been  used 
in  the  public  worship  of  the  church,  for  fifteen  hundi-ed  years.  The 
English  Prayer  Book,  substantially  as  it  now  is,  having  been  ratified  by 
Convocation  and  by  an  Act  of  Parliament,  was  used  for  the  first  time, 
by  authority,  in  all  the  churches  on  Whit-Sunday,  1549. 

The  Prayer  Book  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United 
States  v/as  ratified  by  the  General  Convention,  in  October,  1789,  and 
docs  not  differ  essentially  from  that  of  the  Church  of  England. 

The  services  for  Festivals  and  Fasts,  which  are  provided  in  the  Prayer 
Book,  are  happily  adapted  to  the  necessities  of  our  spiritual  nature,  and 


DR.    RANDALL'S   LECTURE,  283 

are  founded  upon  the  authority  of  Holy  Scripture.  Festivals  and 
Fasts  were  cnjoined'by  God  upon  the  Jews,  and  were  obscrA^ed  by  our 
Lord  and  His  Apostles.  Their  necessity  has  been  acknowledged  by 
those  bodies  of  Christians  who,  in  their  haste  to  depart,  apparently,  as  far 
as  possible  from  the  church,  undertook  to  do  without  them.  Thus  our 
Puritan  Fathers. made  it  penal  to  observe  Christmas,  but  ordained  a  Festi- 
val in  the  Autumn,  in  the  form  of  a  Thanksgiving  Day.  They  would 
not  keep  the  fast  of  Lent,  but  they  set  apart  a  day  in  the  Spring,  as  a 
"  day  of  fasting,  humiliation  and  prayer.'* 

The  church  had,  from  the  early  ages,  observed  a  fast  of  forty  days^ 
wherein  the  ordinary  means  of  gi*ace  were  used,  after  an  extraordinary 
manner.  Those  bodies  of  Christians  who  discard  this  practice,  have  felt 
the  necessity  of  such  a  season,  and  have  virtually  confessed  it,  in  that 
species  of  substitute  found  in  their  "four  days  meetings"  or  "pro- 
tracted meetings,"  and  other  extraordinary  services,  connected  com- 
monly, with  what  are  known  as  modern  "revivals."  "We  think  their  own 
experience  is  proving  that  the  "  old  paths"  are  the  better  way. 

Note  H.  —  The  office  of  "  the  Church  of  the  Living  God,  as  the 
ground  and  pillar  of  the  truth,"  is  not  only  to  spread  that  truth,  but  to 
conserve  it.  This,  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  does,  not  only  by  re- 
taining an  Apostolic  ministry,  but  by  embodying  the  great  principles  of 
the  Gospel,  in  an  Evangelical  Liturgy.  If  the  minister  go  astray  and 
become  heretical,  he  cannot  easily  carry  the  people  with  him.  Nor  can 
he  continue  to  preach  after  he  ceases  to  believe  in  the  Divinity  of  Christ. 
He  must  quit  the  church  at  once  when  he  quits  the  faith,  since  he  cannot 
preach  without  using  the  Liturgy,  and  he  cannot  do  that,  after  he  ceases 
to  believe  that  Christ  is  a  Divine  Being.  In  this  manner  are  the  people 
protected  against  the  errors,  into  which  their  minister  may  fall. 

It  has  been  shown  in  the  sermon  that  a  Liturgy  has  always  obtained  in 
the  church,  in  connection  with  an  Apostolic  ministry ;  that  these  wer» 
universal  for  fifteen  hundred  years,  and  that,  at  the  present  day,  of  the 
tivo  hundred  millions  of  Christians,  one  hundred  and  eighty  retain  the  three 
orders  of  the  ministry  and  a  Liturgy.  Heresies  have  appeared  from 
time  to  time  in  the  church.     This  was  foretold  by  Christ  and  the  Apos- 


284  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

ties.  Christ  promised  to  be  with  His  Church,  and  "  the  gates  of  heL 
should  not  prevail  against  it/'  This  promise  has  been  fulfilled  :  —  they 
have  not  prevailed  against  it.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  tha*  of  the  one 
hundred  and  eighty  millions  who  retain  the  Apostolic  ministry,  of  Bishops, 
Priests,  and  Deacons,  there  is  not,  to  my  knowledge,  a  single  congregation 
who  deny  the  Divinity  of  Christ. 

There  is  another  fact  in  this  connection  hardly  less  remarkable.  The 
great  work  of  the  Reformation  commenced  about  the  same  time  in  Eng- 
land and  on  the  Continent.  In  England,  the  Church  was  content  to  cut 
off  what  was  corrupt,  to  reform  what  had  been  abused,  and  to  preserve 
what  was  believed  to  be  Apostolic.  The  German  reformers  also  cut  off 
what  was  corrupt,  and  reformed  what  had  been  abused,  but  they  went  one 
step  further  :  —  they  rejected  Episcopacy,  —  because  the  Church  of  Rome 
had  made  a  Pope  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  and  had  otherwise  corrupted 
the  three-fold  ministry.  Here  then  was  a  great  experiment.  Here  were 
two  Reformed  Churches  :  the  one  holding  to  an  Apostolic  Ministry,  the 
other  rejecting  it.  In  other  respects,  there  was  no  essential  difference 
between  them.  Now,  after  three  hundred  years,  what  is  the  result? 
There  stands  the  English  Church  with  her  twenty  thousand  Clergymen, 
and  her  Missionaries  in  every  land ;  the  very  bulwark  of  Protestalnt 
Christendom,  maintaining  "  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints." 

What  has  become  of  her  who,  three  hundred  years  ago,  claimed  to  be 
a  sister,  but  undertook  to  put  asunder  what  Apostles  had  joined  to- 
gether ?  Where  is  the  faith  entrusted  to  her  1  She  thought  it  wise  to 
attempt  to  maintain  the  Apostolic  faith  without  the  Apostolic  ministry — 
thus  substituting  a  plan  of  her  own  for  the  plan  of  the  Apostles ;  and 
where  is  she  now,  and  what  does  she  teach  ?  At  the  beginning  of  the 
present  century  "a  majority  of  the  divines  of  the  German  Churches 
rejected  all  belief  in  the  Divine  Origin  of  Christianity."  Says  an 
American  Traveller  :  —  "  The  majority  of  the  Professors  in  the  Univer- 
sities disbelieve  the  Revelation  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  regard  its 
authority  with  no  more  reverence  than  that  of  the  Iliad  or  ^nead." 
**  The  Miracles  of  the  Old,  and  often  those  of  the  New  Testament,  are 
explained  away  in  conversation  and  in  their  lecture  rooms  ;  and  the  inspi- 


DR.    RANDALL'S   LECTURE.  285 

ration  of  the  Apostles,  and  sometimes  of  Christ,  publicly  denied"  "  On  the 
subject  of  the  New  Testament,  there  is  also  the  greatest  diversity  of  opin- 
ion, though  the  majority  of  the  Professors,  in  every  department,  unite  in 
disbelieving  it."  The  same  writer  adds  :  —  "I  believe  I  am  within  the 
bounds  of  truth  in  asserting,  that  there  are  not  five  Orthodox  Professors 
and  Clergymen  in  Germany,  who  esteem  the  Sabbath  in  any  other  light 
than  as  a  Mosaic  Institution."  Of  the  practical  effects  of  such  teaching 
the  reader  can  judge  for  himself.  —  See  Richardson's  Reasons  —  Stewart's 
Letters  to  Channing  —  Dwight's  Travels  in  Germany  —  Rose's  State  of 
Protestantism  in  Germany  —  Robinson's  Bib.  Rep.,  Vol.  1. 

After  the  Refonnation,  in  England,  another  experiment  was  made. 
The  Puritans  came  forth  from  the  Church  of  England.  They  had  the 
Apostolic  faith  as  held  by  that  church.  They  were  at  that  time  truly  Or- 
thodox as  to  the  articles  of  their  belief.  But  they  undertook  to  maintain 
that  faith,  without  the  Apostolic  Ministry,  and  without  the  aid  of  a  Liturgy^ 
They  landed  upon  these  shores  and  planted  the  Banner  of  the  Cross  in 
the  new  world,  to  be  carried  forth  by  an  ai-my,  without  divinely  commis- 
sioned officex'S,  What  has  been  the  result  ?  In  about  two  hundred  years 
the  great  body  of  their  churches  denied  "  the  Lord  that  bought  them." 
The  very  Church  at  Plymouth,  which  they  planted,  depai'ted  from  the 
faith.  There  was  a  time,  when  there  was  but  a  solitary  Congregational 
parish,  in  the  city  of  Boston,  that  was  Orthodox.  The  very  University 
which  Pilgrim  hands  planted,  and  Pilgrim  piety  endowed,  became  the 
hot-bed  of  heresy.  And  where  is  the  Church  of  England  1  Just  where 
she  was  three  hundred  years  ago;  firmly  holding  "the  faith  once  deliv- 
ered to  the  saints."  I  know  it  is  sometimes  said,  that  the  King's  Chapel, 
Boston,  was  the  first  Episcopal  Church  which  became  Unitarian.  I  aver 
that  no  Episcopal  Church  in  this  country  ever  did  become  Unitarian. 
Tlie  "  King's  Chapel "  was  once  an  Episcopal  Church.  When  the  Revo- 
lutionary war  broke  out,  the  Minister  and  many  of  his  people,  who  were 
loyalists,  left  the  country.  It  was  used,  for  a  while,  by  the  "  Old  South" 
Congregation.  The  property  of  the  former  proprietors,  who  were  loyal- 
ists, was  confiscated.  The  pews  fell  into  the  hands  of  other  people. 
After  peace  was  declared,  a  Mr.  Freeman  •  applied  to  Bishop  White  for 


286  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

ordination,  at  the  same  time  avowing  his  Unitarian  sentiments.  Bisliop 
White  could  not  ordain  him,  and  would  not,  if  he  coukl  —  because  he  was 
a  heretic.  What  did  the  people  do  ?  They  had  a  meeting  of  the  congre- 
gation. They  set  apart  and  ordained  two  of  their  number  as  Deacons, — 
wlio,  in  their  turn,  laid  their  hands  upon  Mr.  Freeman's  head;  and  he 
then  and  there,  and  thereby,  becomes  their  minister.  "  He,  in  his  turn, 
takes  the  Prayer  Book  and  riddles  it  of  its  vitals,  and  proceeds  with  his 
ministrations.  Thus  it  will  be  seen,  that  the  "King's  Chapel"  did  not 
become  a  Unitarian  place  of  worship,  until  it  became  a  Congrega- 
tional parish.  All  there  is  Episcopal  about  it,  are  the  walls,  furniture, 
and  the  skeleton  of  a  mutilated  Prayer  Book. 

The  Church  is  the  conservator  of  the  "  Truth "  in  another  relation. 
On  the  oppositie  side  stands  the  Church  of  Rome,  clothed  with  great  pow- 
er, and  covered  with  deep  corruption.  She  boasts  of  her  authority  —  and 
in  a  controversy  with  her,  the  various  denominations  invariably  come  off 
second  best.  They  unwittingly  attack  her  at  a  point  where  she  is  strong- 
est, and  they  are  weakest.  On  the  other  hand,  when  she  tells  us  that  she 
has  an  Apostolic  commission,  from  Christ,  through  His  Apostles,  we 
answer :  "  So  have  we."  And  we  follow  up  this  answer  by  saying,  that 
we  have  every  thing  that  she  ever  had,  in  the  first  three  centuries  ;  and 
the  difference  between  us  lies,  only  in  those  unscriptural  doctrines,  and 
practices,  which  have  been  added  since.  What  she  holds  as  articles  of 
faith  that  we  do  not,  are  heresies,  and  we  can  tell  her  the  time  and  the 
place  when  and  where  she  adopted  them.  Thus  our  great  advantage  in 
the  controversy  with  Rome,  must  be  manifest  to  all,  who  understand 
what  that  controversy  is. 

Note  I.  —  Some  affirm,  that  while  the  Baptists  had  no  organized  church 
until  the  seventeenth  century,  yet  individuals  who  held  Baptist  sentiments 
were  scattered  throughout  Christendom  in  early  ages,  and  were  known  as 
the  Albigenses  and  Waldenses.  The  Waldenses  were  a  sect,  which  ap- 
])eared  in  the  twelfth  century  and  had  a  ministry  of  Bishops,  Priests,  and 
Deacons. 


DR.    RANDALL'S    LECTURE.  287 

Note  K.  —  By  confirmation  we  mean  the  rite  of  laying  on  of  hands 
upon  the  heads  of  those  who  have  been  baptized,  and  Avhich  is  represented 
by  St.  Paul  as  "a  principle  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ."  —  Heb.  vi.  2. 

When  Philip  went  down  to  Samaria  and  preached,  many  believed, 
and  were  baptized  by  him.  As  soon  as  the  Apostles  at  Jerusalem  heard 
of  this  event,  Peter  and  John  went  to  Samaria,  and  laid  their'  hands  upon 
these  baptized  persons.  — Acts,  viii.  15-17.  So  also  at  Ephesus,  St.  Paul 
laid  his  hands  on  those  who  had  been  baptized.  —  Acts,  xix.  6. 

In  the  Apostolic  age  the  rite  was  usually  denominated  "  the  laying  on 
of  hands ; "  it  is  now  commonly  termed  "confirmation,"  inasmuch  aa 
the  person  who  receives  this  laying  on  of  hands,  thereby  ratifies  and  '.on- 
firms  his  baptismal  vows.  It  is  a  profession  of  his  faith  before  the  world. 
The  propriety  of  such  a  ceremony  must  be  apparent.  That  it  is  Apos- 
tolic, there  is  no  dispute.  Of  its  fitness  and  profit,  there  are  multi- 
tudes of  witnesses.  As  none  but  Apostles  performed  this  rite,  so  its 
administration  is  restricted  to  their  successors,  the  Bishops  of  the  church 
Calvin  himself  acknowledged  that  it  was  practised  by  the  Apostles.  In 
his  fourth  book  of  Institutes  he  says  :  "  It  was  an  ancient  custom,  that 
the  children  of  Christian  parents,  when  they  were  grown  up,  should  be 
presented  to  the  Bishop  to  do  that  office,  which  was  required  of  persons 
who  were  baptized  at  adult  age."  .  .  .  .  "  Such  an  imposition  of 
hands  as  this,  which  is  used  purely  as  a  blessing,  I  very  much  approve 
of,  and  Avish  it  were  now  restored  to  its  pure  and  primitive  uses." 

The  following  testimony  is  an  extract  from  the  "  report  of  a  committee 
of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  church."  "  It  appears,"  say 
they,  "that  a  rite  called  confirmation  was  administered  by  the  imposition 
of  the  hand  of  the  minister,  or  bishop,  or  elder,  together  with  prayer,  on 
baptized  children  at  a  certain  age."  And  after  quoting  the  authority  of 
Calvin  and  others,  the  committee  add :  "  This  rite  of  confirmation,  thus 
administered  to  baptized  children  when  arrived  to  competent  years,  and 
previously  instructed  and  prepared  for  it,  with  the  express  view  of  their 
admission  to  the  Lord's  Supper,  shows  clearly  that  the  primitive  church, 
in  her  purest  days,  exercised  the  authority  of  a  mother  over  her  baptized 
children," — Bishop  Hohart's  Tract  on  Confirmation.     In  the  Episcopal 


288  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

Church  the  candidate  for  baptism,  (if  an  adult,)  for  confirmation  and  the 
Lord's  Supper,  is  examined  by  the  minister,  and  by  him  admitted  to 
these  privileges,  if,  in  his  opinion,  the  candidate  be  a  proper  subject  for 
them.  The  "  keys  "  were  committed  to  the  Apostle,  and  not  to  the  peo- 
ple. The  commission  from  Christ  authorizes  and  directs  his  minister  to 
baptize,  and  no  earthly  power  can  interpose  in  this  matter.  A  minister 
has  no  moral  right  to  allow  laymen  to  say  whom  he  shall  baptize  and 
admit  to  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  whom  he  shall  not.  Sheep  are  not, 
commonly,  shepherds. 

Note  L.  —  Any  person  in  this  diocese  may  prefer  a  complaint  against 
a  clergyman  to  the  Standing  Committee  of  the  diocese,  who,  after  hav- 
ing made  a  preliminary  examination,  may,  at  their  discretion,  present 
such  clergyman  to  the  Bishop  for  trial,  in  which  case  they  are  required  to 
make  charges  and  specifications  in  writing,  in  the  form  of  a  presentment, 
which  presentment  is  sent  to  the  Bishop,  who  is  required  to  serve  a  copy 
of  the  same  on  the  accused,  with  a  list  of  nine  Pi-esbyters,  from  which 
the  accused  shall  select  five,  and  return  the  same  to  the  Bishop.  The 
court  thus  constituted  meet  at  such  time  and  place  as  the  Bishop  may 
appoint.  The  court  declare  their  decision  in  writing,  together  with  the 
sentence,  if  the  accused  be  found  guilty.  The  sentence  is  pronounced 
publicly  by  the  Bishop,  in  some  church,  in  the  presence  of  three  Presby- 
ters. If  the  sentence  be  deposition  from  the  ministry,  it  is  immediately 
communicated  to  the  Bishops  of  the  several  dioceses. 

Note  M.  —  John  Calvin,  who  was  the  father  of  Presbyterianism,  was 
not  a  Presbyterian  from  choice,  but  from  what  he  regarded  as  a  necessity. 
Here  are  his  views  of  Episcopacy  :  "  The  Episcopate  itself  had  its  ap- 
pointments from  God.  The  ofiice  of  a  Bishop  was  instituted  by  the 
authority  and  defined  by  the  Ordinance  of  God." 

**  Let  them  give  us  such  an  hierarchy,  in  which  the  Bishops  may  so 
bear  rule  that  they  refuse  not  to  submit  to  Christ,  and  to  depend  upon 
Him  as  their  only  Head  :  let  them  be  so  united  together  in  a  brotherly 
concord,  as  that  his  truth  shall  be  their  onlv  bond  of  union ;  then,  in- 


DR.  Randall's  lecture.  289 

deed,  if  there  shall  be  any  who  will  not  reverence  them,  and  pay  them 
the  most  exact  obedience,  there  is  no  anathema,  but  I  confess  them 
worthy  of  it/'  —  See  "  Reasons,"  etc.,  by  Richardson. 

John  Calvin  not  only  thus  sanctioned  Episcopacy,  but  desired  to  be 
consecrated  a  Bishop. 

Says  Archbishop  Abbott :  "  Perusing  some  papers  of  our  predecessor, 
Matthew  Parker  CArchbishop),  we  find  that  John  Calvin  and  others,  of 
tiie  Protestant  churches  of  Germany,  and  elsewhere,  would  have  had 
Episcopacy, "if  permitted,  but  could  not  upon  several  accounts." 

It  appears  that  Calvin  sent  letters,  in  King  Edward  VI.  reign,  inviting 
a  conference  with  the  clergy  on  this  subject,  which  letters  were  inter- 
cepted by  Gardiner  and  Bonner,  two  Romish  Bishops,  and  they  never 
reached  their  destination.  Calvin  received  an  answer  purporting  to  be 
from  the  reformed  divines,  declining  his  overtures.  In  the  sixth  year 
of  Queen  Elizabeth's  reign  these  letters  were  discovered,  but  Calvin  was 
then  dead. 

Philip  Melancthon,  a  Presbyterian,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  of 
the  Continental  Reformers,  thus  speaks  of  Episcopacy :  "  I  would  to 
God  it  lay  in  me  to  restore  the  government  of  Bishops.  For  I  see  what 
manner  of  church  we  shall  have,  the  Ecclesiastical  polity  being  dis- 
solved. I  do  see  that,  hereafter,  there  will  grow  up  a  greater  tyranny  in 
the  church  than  there  ever  was  before." 

Note  N.  —  Congregational  Ordination.  That  laymen  can  make  a 
minister  of  God,  but  putting  their  hands  on  his  head,  is  a  doctrine  which 
may  startle  Congregationalists,  who  never  were  told  that  this  is  a  principle 
of  Congregationalism.  So  much  of  a,  principle  did  the  Puritans  of  New 
England  make  lay  ordination,  that  they  even  required  laymen  to  lay 
their  hands  in  ordination  upon  the  head  of  a  regularly  ordained  minister 
of  the  Church  of  England,  when  he  desired  to  enter  their  ministry — as 
in  the  case  of  Mr.  Francis  Higginson,  who  was  ordained  at  Salem,  July 
20,  1629.  Mr.  H.,  who  was  a  minister  in  the  Church  of  England,  acting 
in  the  capacity  of  a  layman,  "  with  three  or  four  more  of  the  gravest 
members  of  the  church,  laid  their  hands  on  Mr.  Skelton,  using  prayers 
25 


290  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

therewith."  Then  Mr.  Skelton,  with  the  same  "  present  and  assisting" 
peers,  performed  the  same  kind  office  for  Mr.  Higginson.  And  thus 
says  a  witness  of  the  scene  :  "  I  hope  you,  and  the  rest  of  God's  people 
with  you,  will  say  that  here  was  a  right  foundation  laid,  and  that  these 
two  blessed  servants  of  the  Lord,  came  in  at  the  door,  and  not  at  the 
window."  — FeWs  Annals  of  Salem,  p.  28.  For  other  instances  of  Lay 
Ordination,  see  Note  83,  p.  490,  Coit's  Puritanism. 

*•  All  Congregational  ordinations  are  virtually  laical ;  for,  as  the  Jirst 
were  so,  all  the  rest  miust  bo." 


SIXTH    LECTURE. 


REV.    ORYILLE   DEWEY,   D.D., 

PA8T0R     OF     THE     SOCIETY    Af    CHIRCH     GREEN, 
S  U  JI  ]M  E  K     STREET. 


291 


VI. 

WHY  I  AM  A  UNITARIAN, 


Matthew  xxii.  35  —  40.  —  Then  one  of  them,  -who  was  a  lawyer 

ASKED  him  a  question,  TEMPTING  HIM,  AND  SAYING,  MASTER,  WHICH 
IS  THE   GREAT   COMMANDMENT    OF    THE  LAW  ?      AnD  JeSUS   SAID   UNTO 

HIM,  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God,  with  all  thy  heart, 

AND  WITH  ALL  THY  SOUL,  AND  WITH  ALL  THY  MIND.  ThIS  IS  THE 
FIRST  AND  GREAT  COMMANDMENT.  AnD  THE  SECOND  IS  LIKE  UNTO 
IT  ;  ThOU  SHALT  LOVE  THY  NEIGHBOR  AS  THYSELF.  On  THESE  TWO 
COMMANDMENTS   HANG   ALL  THE  LAW  AND   THE  PROPHETS. 

These  were  not  only  comprehensive  and  final  words 
from  the  Master,  upon  the  nature  of  religion,  but  for 
the  time,  nay  and  for  all  time,  they  are  very  significant 
words.  They  swept  down  all  Jewish  subtlety  and  ques- 
tioning, and  a  great  deal  beside.  Of  mint,  annis,  and 
cummin,  how  much;  the  resurrection- wife,  whose  she 
should  be,  of  the  seven  that  had  her;  tribute  to  Caesar, 
to  be  paid  or  no :  and  in  later  days,  the  hypostases, 
how  related,  how  mingled,  homoousian,  or  homoiou- 
sian ;  human  ability,  whether  natural  or  moral;  decrees, 
election  with  or  without  foresight  of  good  works; 
theologic  fogs  rising  from  Dort  or  Augsburg  —  all  fly 
like  unsubstantial  mists  over  the  solid  earth ;  here  is 

25=*^  293 


294  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

the  ground  beneath — the  solid  ground  of  all  truth  and 
doctrine.  No  matter  what  the  Mischna  and  Gemara 
say  —  no  matter  what  Hillel  or  Shammai  says  —  no 
matter  what  Luther  or  Calvin  or  Arminius,  or  Straus 
or  Ronge  says  to  disturb  my  mind,  they  cannot  shake 
this  foundation.  Nay,  Ronge  ?  I  am  disposed  to  re- 
call that  instance  —  where  is  Ronge?  He  set  up  the 
love-principle  —  not  faith,  but  love ;  nay,  that  faith  is 
love,  was  his  principle ;  the  most  notable  thing,  and 
the  most  notable  reform  it  would  have  made,  that  has 
appeared  in  these  latter  days.  And  this  is  one  reason 
I  will  add  in  passing,  why  I  prefer  my  own  system  of 
religious  thought  to  any  other  ;  because,  as  it  seems 
to  me,  it  sets  up  more  clearly  —  more  free  from  all 
doctrinal  entanglement  than  any  other  system,  this 
principle  of  love  —  love  to  God  and  love  to  man,  as 
the  ground  and  basis,  the  sum  and  substance  of  all 
religion. 

This,  however,  is  but  on  the  threshold  of  the  question 
proposed  in  this  series  of  discourses  ;  in  which  each 
one  of  five  or  six  denominations  —  or  some  person  an- 
swering for  it  —  undertakes  to  speak  of  itself;  to 
speak  of  its  faith,  order  and  discipline ;  and  to  say 
why  it  prefers  its  own  to  any  other.  Now  that  a  sys- 
tem is  true^  or  appears  to  be  true,  is  the  main  and 
sufficient  reason,  with  any  thoughtful  person,  why  he 
prefers  it.  But  I  understand  that  the  answer  here,  is 
expected  to  turn  upon  practical  issues.    What  is  there 


DR.  devvey:'s  lecture.  295 

in  the  devout  and  humane  feelings  that  a  man  cherishes, 
which  makes  his  system  of  faith  and  church  order  at- 
tractive to  him  ?  Religion  is  summed  up  by  the  Mas- 
ter in  these  two  precepts  :  "  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord 
thy  God,  with  all  thy  heart;"  and  "Thou  shalt  love 
thy  neighbor  as  thyself."  Why,  and  wherein,  to  the 
love  of  God  and  man,  is  this  or  that  system  interest- 
ing ? 

It  is  an  important  question ;  for  there  is  a  close  con- 
nection between  theology  and  religion.  This  is  often 
denied,  I  know ;  but  I  cannot  agree  with  the  denial. 
Say^  the  Poet  — 

"  For  modes  of  faith  let  graceless  zealots  fight ; 
*  His  can't  be  wrong,  whose  life  is  in  the  right." 

There  is  a  sense  indeed,  in  which  this  is  true ;  though 
not  the  sense,  I  think,  in  which  the  poet  meant  it. 
That  is  to  say  —  he  whose  life  —  i.  e.,  whose  inward 
and  outward  life  is  right,  believes  all  that  is  essential. 
It  is  in  this  view,  that  I  have  just  pointed  to  the  great 
and  palpable  foundations  of  all  religion.  But  still,  a 
man's  ideas  of  God,  of  Christ,  of  the  Gospel,  of  hu- 
man nature,  and  of  the  principles  of  human  culture 
and  welfare,  have  a  great  deal  to  do  with  his  piety,  his 
humanity,  his  essential  happiness.  I  only  lay  down  this 
as  a  general  observation,  at  present ;  and  expect  it  to 
appear  more  fully,  as  we  go  on. 

But  before  I  proceed  to  the  main  points  which  I 


296  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

propose  to  consider,  I  will  say  a  word  or  two  of  cer- 
tain matters  of  form  and  circumstance,  which  have 
been  very  naturally  brought  into  this  discussion. 

One  is  that  of  Church  Order ;  whether  it  shall  seem 
preferable  that  the  church  be  governed  or  presided 
over  by  Bishops,  by  Presbyters,  by  Assemblies,  Synods, 
Conferences,  or  not.  Now,  while  I  do  not  think  that 
any  form  or  mode  of  hierarchy  is  laid  down  in  the 
New  Testament,  I  prefer  the  Congregational  order. 
And  I  prefer  it,  for  the  same  general  reason  that  leads 
me  to  \  refer  the  Republican  system  in  politics,  viz., 
that  it  gives  me  freedom.  In  religion,  more  than  in 
politics,  I  seek  for  freedom.  The  State  may,  with 
more  reason,  demand  conformity.  It  cannot  exist 
without  a  certain  amount  of  conformity.  And  the  re- 
quisition presses  mostly,  too,  upon  the  outward  life.  I 
might  live,  all  my  life,  under  a  despotism,  and  never, 
perhaps,  be  obliged  to  say,  that  I  believed  what  I  did 
not  believe ;  or  to  lose  my  life,  or  property,  or  reputa- 
tion, if  I  did  not.  But  religion  is  a  thought,  a  feeling, 
a  communion  with  the  Infinite,  a  stretching  onward  to 
immortality;  and  nothing  is  so  painful  to  it  as  any 
fetter  or  chain.  To  have  pontiff,  or  prelate,  or  presby- 
tery, or  creed,  stand  before  me  and  say  —  "  thus  far ; 
no  farther,  at  your  peril!" — I  could  bear  any  thing 
better  than  that.  And  I  had  rather  take  the  worst 
possible  church  organization  with  freedom,  than  the 
best  possible  —  if  such  a  thing  could  be  —  without  it. 


DR.  dewky's  lecture.  297 

"  Ah ! "  it  may  be  said,  "  freedom  is  a  fine  thing  to 
talk  about;  but  who  has  it?  Who  is  there  that  thinks 
what  he  will  ?  or  that  can  diverge  very  widely  from 
those  around  him,  without  suffering  for  it  ?  "  Grant 
that  nobody  has  it  perfectly.  Grant  that  opinion 
presses  upon  the  world  like  the  atmosphere ;  and  no- 
body can  get  out  of  it.  That  is  no  reason  w^hy  I 
should  not  have  all  the  freedom  that  I  can. 

And  I  must  have  it ;  my  mind  cannot  advance  with- 
out it.  It  is  the  very  condition  of  progress ;  and  yet 
more,  it  is  the  inborn  right  of  my  intellect,  to  think 
freely.  To  put  me  in  a  theological  inclosure,  with  a 
fence,  five  bars  or  thirty-nine  bars  high,  and  then  to 
say,  "  you  must  not  pass  this  fence,  and  you  must  not 
pull  out  one  of  those  bars ! " — I  would  as  soon  consent 
that  thirty-nine  propositions,  or  a  whole  catechism  of 
articles  in  science  should  be  laid  before  me,  to  bound 
or  to  shape  my  inquiries.  Indeed  it  would  be  more 
intolerable  in  theology  than  in  physics.  No,  I  must 
have  freedom.  In  religion,  above  all,  I  must  have 
freedom. 

Another  topic  which  has  been  brought  into  this  dis- 
cussion, is  success.  It  is  said,  that  Unitarianism  does 
not  spread  like  other  systems.  Very  imposing  statis- 
tics can  be  presented,  for  instance,  of  the  progress  of 
Methodism.  I  am  glad  there  can  be.  I  rejoice  at  the 
work  which  Methodism  has  done.  I  like  its  practical 
and  afiectionate  spirit.     I  have  attended  a  Methodist 


298  PTTTS-STREET  CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

Church  myself,  for  two  years,  in  my  country  home, 
and  there  had  the  happiness  to  know  its  pastor,  and  to 
call  my  friend,  one  of  the  most  thoughtful,  reverent, 
and  true  men  that  I  have  ever  known  in  any  church.* 
Let  Methodism  prosper .  then ;  let  every  good  work 
prosper. 

And  yet  there  are  one  or  two  observations  which  I 
desire  to  submit,  on  this  subject  of  success.  In  the 
first  place,  the  views  substantially  which  we  embrace 
do  prevail  extensively  under  other  names  than  our  own. 
In  the  large  and  increasing  Bodies  of  the  Universalists 
and  Christians,  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  is  distinctly 
rejected ;  and  so,  generally  speaking,  are  its  kindred  or 
associated  doctrines.  And  our  three  denominations  to- 
gether may  not  be  less  in  numbers  than  the  Methodist 
body  itself.  Ijx  the  next  place,  let  me  observe,  there  is  a 
difference  between  the  spread  of  a  sect^  and  the  spread 

*  The  Rev.  Thomas  Randolph  Mercein.  I  hope  I  may  be  pardoned 
this  affectionate  allusion  to  the  memory  of  Mercein,  in  a  series  of  dis- 
courses designed  to  bring  out  the  points  of  union  and  sympathy  between 
different  classes  of  Christians.  I  never  knew  a  young  man  more  fitted 
by  natural  endowments  and  spiritual  gifts,  for  the  holy  office  he  took 
upon  him.  He  began  to  preach,  very  young — at  19,  and  died  at  31 .  His 
remains  rest  in  the  cemetery  at  Sheffield,  and  ought  to  have  a  monument. 
Beautiful  in  person,  simple  in  manners,  strong  in  purpose,  and  indefatiga- 
ble in  labor,  in  him  were  combined  manliness,  earnestness  and  delicacy, 
with  great  strength  and  beauty  of  intellect.  His  work  on  "Natural 
Goodness  "  shows  what  he  was.  I  do  not  agree  with  his  conclusion ;  but 
to  the  originality,  insight,  eloquence,  and  generosity  of  his  writing,  no 
one  can  refuse  his  testimony. 


DR.  dewey's  lecture.  299 

of  ideas.  In  this  latter  sphere  of  success  we  clahn  that 
we  have  done  some  work,  and  that  we  have  not  labored 
in  vain.  The  body  of  Christians  distinctively  known 
as  Unitarians,  is  a  small  body ;  and  if  there  is  no  suc- 
cess but  what  depends  on  worldly  combination,  organ- 
ization or  policy,  never  had  any  men  less  chance  of  it 
than  we.  Bound  by  no  convention  but  mutual  respect 
and  good  will,  by  no  creed  but  the  Gospel ;  thinking 
and  saying,  each  one  what  he  will ;  questioning  our- 
selves and  our  movement,  more  sharply  than  if  it  had 
taken  place  on  the  other  side  of  the  world ;  in  our 
churches  perfectly  independent;  in  our  conventions 
more  than  independent — even  litigiously  bent  on  find- 
ing all  the  fault  we  can  with  ourselves,  spying  out 
defects  and  criticising  tendencies  recklessly,  as  those 
only  can  who  believe  in  immortal  truth — certainly,  we 
are  the  least  politic  of  all  people.  The  by-standers 
looking  on,  say,  "  see  this  little  Unitarian  body  dissolv- 
ing and  all  going  to  pieces  before  our  eyes ;  why,  they 
don't  believe  in  themselves ;  they  believe  in  nothing  but 
truth."  Nevertheless,  here  we  stand,  "  as  chastened, 
and  not  killed ;  as  dying,  and  behold,  we  live  ;  as  un- 
known, and  yet  well  known;"  here  we  stand,  this 
"  forlorn  hope,"  if  it  shall  please  any  to  have  it  seem  so 
to  them ;  I  say  rather  —  for  if  they  give  me  their 
thought,  I  must  man  myself  up,  though  against  all 
modesty,  to  give  them  mine  —  /  say  rather,  this  van- 
guard in  the  great  army  of  Christian  progress ;  and  if 


300  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

tViis  vanguard  must  sink,  either  merged  in  the  arrny 
that  it  has  led  on,  or  dying  at  its  post,  I  shall  not  be 
sorry  for  the  humble  part  I  have  taken  in  the  conflict. 
For  ideas  never  die !  The  breath  goes  out  of  a  man's 
body,  and  it  is  dead ;  synods  and  councils  of  mighty 
men  are  dissolved  and  scattered ;  churches  and  hierar- 
chies decline  and  crumble  to  pieces ;  but  ideas  never 
die!  And  if  I  worshipped  success,  which.  I  do  not — if 
I  were  governed  by  mere  worldly  policy,  I  believe  that 
there  is  a  wide  and  onward  sv^eep  of  thought  in  the 
very  direction  in  which  I  am  g(  ing  —  of  thought  in  lit- 
erature, in  science,  in  philosophy,  in  the  deepest  medita- 
tions of  the  most  enlightened  men  in  all  Protestant 
countries ;  and  I  had  rather  cast  myself  upon  the  tide, 
restless,  fluctuating,  even  dangerous,  that  will  bear  me 
to  some  far,  bright  haven,  than  to  be  anchored  or 
stranded,  in  temporary  securi  y,  upon  the  shore. 

But  it  is  time  that  I  should  pass  from  the  scaflbld- 
ing  and  the  outworks  of  religion,  about  which  I  am 
less  concerned,  to  the  temple  itself.  I  am  asked  what 
there  is  in  the  views  which  I,  as  a  Unitarian,  entertain 
of  religion,  which  makes  them  interesting  to  my  devo- 
tional and  humane  sentiments ;  or,  if  you  please, 
which  makes  them  seem  to  me  favorable  and  fostei- 
ing  to  piety  and  virtue,  to  the  love  of  God  and  man. 

First,  I  am  to  speak  —  with  awe  let  me  say  it  —  I 
am  to  speak  of  God.  I  am  forced,  by  the  question, 
upon  this  awful  theme ;    and  yet  I  cannot  bear  to 


DR.  dewey's  lecture.  301 

speak  of  it  in  any  way  of  debate.      Rather  in  terms 
like  those  of  Milton's  invocation  would  I  speak,  and 

say, 

"  Hail !  holy  Light !  oifspring  of  heaven  first  born, 
Or  of  the  eternal,  co-eternal  beam ; 
May  I  express  Thee  unblamed ;  since  God  is  light, 
And  never  but  in  unapproached  light, 
Dwelt  from  eternity ;  dwelt  then  in  Thee, 
Bright  effluence  of  bright  essence  increate." 

What  thoughts  are  ours,  when  that  great,  that 
greatest  possible  Idea  enters  our  minds!  Heaven  and 
the  heaven  of  heavens  cannot  contain  it ;  how  much 
less  an  earthly  temple!  Upward,  and  outward,  and 
onward  —  and  onward,  our  minds  rise,  and  range 
abroad,  and  find  no  end.  This  assembly  is  naught, 
this  world  is  naught ;  the  plane  of  the  starry  spheres 
is  passed  over  as  but  a  paved  court ;  a  thousand  suns 
grow  dim  and  are  left  far  behind ;  infinitude,  eternity, 
omnipotence,  are  in  our  thought;  and  they  are  all 
concentred  in  one  Being.  That  Being,  so  transcend- 
ing all  comprehension,  all  imagining  —  that  Being 
who  has  given  existence  to  every  leaf  and  every  leafy 
fibre  in  the  spreading  forests  that  engirdle  the  world, 
and  to  every  insect  that  lights  upon  them,  and  to 
every  bird  that  sings  among  the  branches,  and  to 
every  beast  and  creeping  thing  beneath  —  that  Being, 
who  has  made  mighty  suns  and  stars  more  numerous 
than  the  forest  leaves,  and  has  filled  them  all  with 
light  and  life,  and  who  knows  at  this  instant  the  mii- 

26 


302  PITTS-STREET  CHAPEL  LECTURES. 

lion-fold  events  and  actions  and  minds  of  million-fold 
worlds  —  what  soul  does  not  sink  into  awe  and  won- 
der and  delight  at  the  thought  of  such  a  Being? 
That  mine  eyes  are  opened  to  beautiful  visions,  and 
mine  ears  to  lovely  sounds ;  that  I  see  the  heavens 
and  the  earth,  and  the  human  face  divine  —  speak  not 
of  it  now ;  I  have  heard  of  something  greater^  and 
mine  ear  hath  comprehended  a  little  thereof;  I  have 
heard  ©f  One,  in  whom  all  life,  light,  beauty,  blessing, 
goodness  and  loveliness  are  summed  up  in  infinite 
fulness,  and  from  whom  they  all  flow  forth  in  bound- 
less diversity,  and  blessing,  and  beatitude ! 

Now,  it  is  the  charm  of  my  contemplation  of  this 
Infinite  Being,  that  it  runs  free,  and  far  and  wide  from 
all  theological  direction.  I  mean  theological  in  the 
scholastic  sense ;  for  Theology,  in  its  true  definition, 
is  the  divinest  of  all  sciences.  I  am  left  to  think  of 
God,  without  attempting  to  define  the  mode  of  his  ex- 
istence ;  no  scholastic  Trinity  perplexes  my  thoughts ; 
no  scheme  of  salvation,  in  which  different  persons 
take  a  part;  no  question,  which  I  shall  worship  — 
whether  I  shall  worship  one  rather  than  another,  or 
how  I  shall  worship  all.  God,  in  the  infinite  sub- 
limity and  loveliness  of  his  nature,  I  am  left  to  think 
upon.  But  I  know  that  he  is  my  Father;  I  sink 
down  into  that.  Amidst  all  my  strugglings  to  com- 
prehend Him,  faint,  exhausted,  overwhelmed,  T  sink 
into  that.     I  become  a  child,  and  say,  "  my  Father." 


DR.    DEWEY'S   LECTURE.  303 

Philosopher,  logician,  theologian,  I  am  not,  in  this 
contemplation,  but  a  child,  —  and  I  sometimes  think 
this  simple  reliance  as  precious  to  a  speculative  as  it 
was  to  a  superstitious  age,  —  but  a  child,  I  say,  know- 
ing that  the  infinite  love  embosoms  me,  knowing  that 
it  cares^or  me  and  pities  me,  and  will  save  me  from 
every  ill,  if  I  confide  -in  it. 

But  when  I  speak  the  word.  Father,  all  depends 
upon  the  meaning  which  I  attach  to  it.  To  say  that 
a  being,  any  being,  is  good^  does  not  suffice  for  a  con- 
ception of  his  character;  we  ask  what  he  does,  or 
what  actions  are  ascribed  to  him.  What  is  the  true 
idea  of  a  good  father?  The  meaning  of  the  phrase, 
applied  to  God,  depends  on  analogy ;  and  in  the  con- 
struction of  it,  w^e  may  lean  too  far  doubtless,  either 
to  lenity  or  severity.  Certainly  a  good  father  requires 
obedience,  and  punishes  for  disobedience.  So,  we 
believe,  does  the  Infinite  Father.  But  suppose  that 
an  earthly  parent  could  so  ordain,  as  to  bring  his 
children  into  the  world,  cripples.^  or  suppose  they 
chance  to  be  born  such,  and  then  that  he  exacts  full 
service  from  them,  and  inflicts  cruel  stripes  upon 
them  every  day  for  failure :  would  the  common  sense 
of  the  world  hesitate  what  character  to  ascribe  to 
that  proceeding ;  or  would  any  vocabulary  of  human 
speech  be  strong  enough  to  set  forth  the  common 
indignation  against  it  ?  You  could  not  live^  in  a  vil- 
lage where  such  a  thing  was  done.      Such  a  thing 


304  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

could  not  live  in  the  world  —  full  as  it  is,  of  tolerated 
horrors. 

But  how  feebly  does  such  an  instance  set  forth  the 
case  in  question!  Almighty  God  has  brought  into 
the  world,  this  race  of  human  beings.  He  has  placed, 
or  laid,  or  left  them  —  such  is  the  popular  i±ieory  — 
under  a  condition,  either  of  impotence  or  natural 
depravity,  which  makes  their  perdition  certain  and 
inevitable  without  his  interference.  For  millions 
unnumbered,  he  does  not^  he  never  will  interfere. 
And  every  day,  by  thousands,  they  drop  —  from  the 
gi'een  and  flowery  plain  of  the  world,  where  they  had 
idled  or  toiled  away  their  little  hour's  existence,  — 
they  drop  into  everlasting  burnings,  or  into  everlasting 
agonies.  Nay,  millions  of  heathens,  who  never  heard 
of  the  Gospel,  —  Asiatic,  Egyptian,  African  crowds 
and  crowding  generations,  from  the  begining  of  time, 
as  they  dropped  from  this  bright  world,  have  been 
heaped  up,  age  after  age,  in  awful  aggregation,  thous- 
ands of  millions  in  each  century,  upon  this  burning 
altar  of  endless  pain ! 

We  speak  of  this,  in  sober  and  solemn  words;  yet 
is  it  any  thing  but  one  of  the  horrors  of"  a  poetic  im- 
agination ?  Hildebrand,  before  he  was  Pope,  Gregory 
VII.,  was  a  preacher.  Preaching  one  day  in  Arezzo, 
he  drew  a  picture  of  hell  —  he  or  some  one  else  had 
had  such  vision  —  in  which  he  saw  something  like  a 
pole  or  mast  rising  out  of  the  fiery  flood,  and  on  it 


DR.   DEWEY'S   LECTURE.  305 

a  human  form  which  he  recognized,  as  that  of  a  Ger- 
man baron  lately  deceased ;  and  what  surprised  him, 
a  man  of  excellent  character.  On  enquiring  the  rea- 
son of  this,  he  was  told  that  his  ancestor  eight  gen- 
erations before,  had  despoiled  a  convent  or  abbey  of 
its  lands ;  and  that  for  this  offence,  he  and  his  eight 
successo^  nine  in  all,  were  doomed  thus  to  sink  into 
the  fiery  abyss.  It  has  been  thought  that  Dante 
drew  from  this,  his  idea  of  the  nine  circles  in  hell. 
It  was,  indeed,  but  a  poetic  fiction.  Can  the  popular 
creed  of  to  day  be  any  other? 

But  this  is  far  off.*  Bring  it  nigh  then.  You  are 
a  father.  An  infant  being  is  laid  in  your  arms.  It 
was  born  in  the  morning,  and  died  at  evening.  For 
that  day's  life,  do  you  believe  —  its  unhappy  fate 
linked  to  Adam,  and  settled  by  the  /at  of  election 
—  that  it  must  meet  the  eternal  doom  ?  You  will 
say  "no,"  perhaps;  "responsibility  does  not  begin 
so  soon."  When,  then,  does  it  begin  ?  Is  it  at  two 
years  old,  or  five,  or  ten  ?  Fix  any  time,  or  let  the 
time  be  when  it  will.  The  day  has  come ;  and  now 
and  henceforth,  it  must  answer  to  the  everlasting  fu- 
ture :  nay,  and  eternity  may  depend  on  the  probation 
of  an  hour.  For  in  an  hour  it  may  die  ;  or  in  a 
week,  or  a  month,  it  may  die.  This  is  no  imagina- 
tion ;  alas !  it  is  reality.  And  your  lovely  child  that 
is  taken  from   you  —  you   cannot   say,  perhaps,  that 

26* 


306  PITTS-STREET  CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

it  was  a  Christian  —  a  regenerate  soul.  Passions 
were  breaking  out  from  time  to  time,  which  had  been 
nursed  in  infancy,  and  which  it  had  not  learned  to 
controL  It  was  lovely  perhaps,  and  full  of  promise ; 
but  you  could  not  say,  that  in  it  yet  appeared,  the 
character,  conversion  or  hope  of  a  Christian.  But 
it  is  gone ;  the  Infinite  Father  has  takeMI  it ;  and 
what  has  he  done  to  it?  Cast  that  frail  and  tender 
life,  for  its  week's  or  month's  probation,  into  outer 
darkness,  where  is  weeping  and  wailing  and  gnash- 
ing of  teeth  forever?  For  that  week's  or  month's 
experience  —  ignorant,  unconscioyns,  unknowing  of  the 
unutterable  peril —  cast  that  poor  child,  torn  trembling 
from  its  mother's  arms,  upon  a  doom,  upon  a  misery 
that  is  to  grow  and  increase  forever  and  ever, —  upon 
a  misery  that  shall  swell  to  a  greater  amount  in  eter- 
nity, than  all  the  accumulated  miseries  of  this  world 
in  time  ?  There  is  not  a  parent's  heart  in  this  assem- 
bly, that  would  not  break  at  the  thought,  if  it  were 
brought  home  to  it.  And  may  not  that  interpret 
something  of  Ihe  Infinite  Parent's  pity  for  his  chil(t- 
ren  ?  And  I  say  if  you  cannot  believe  that  a  month's 
probation,  neither  can  you  believe  that  this  weak,  frail, 
ignorant,  troubled,  human  life^  must  draw  after  it  such 
an  irreversible  doom.  At  any  rate,  this  dreadful  doc- 
trine of  everlasting  punishment  for  all  unregenerate 
souls,  falls  when  tried  upon  that  issue.     If  you  can- 


DR.    DEWEY^S    LECTURE.  307 

not  believe  that  a  month's  probation  carries  with  it 
such  an  awful  doom  —  if  you  give  up  that^  you  give 
up  the  doctrine  entirely. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  other  subject  which  I  pro- 
posed mainly  to  consider  —  humanity  —  man. 

There  is  one  thing,  and  only  one,  which,  for  every 
human  being,  is  true  welfare,  power,  peace,  blessing, 
beatitude.  It  is  rectitude,  it  is  sanctity,  it  is  love — love 
of  God  and  man.  What  relation  has  human  nature 
to  this  —  the  great  end  of  being?  It  is,  in  the  com- 
mon account,  a  relation  of  inefficiency,  of  inaptitude, 
of  total  aversion,  of  total  estrangement,  of  blank  dis- 
couragement to  all  rational  hope,  of  barren  soil  to  all 
natural  culture.  What  is  the  practical  consequence? 
A  general  and  fatal  inactivity,  if  not  indifference,  with 
regard  to  the  highest  thing.  There  it  is  —  it  is  called 
religion  —  there  it  is,  high  up  and  out  of  reach  ;  man 
cannot  attain  to  it ;  some  time,  perhaps,  it  will  be 
brought  down  to  him  by  a  power  divine  ;  but  for  the 
present,  there  is  a  great  gulf  fixed  between  him  and  it. 
Between  humanity  and  religion,  in  short,  there  is  no 
kindly  relation,  no  uniting  bond,  no  natural  sympathy. 

Now,  how  did  Jesus  look  upon  this  human  world  ? 
We  can  judge  best  of  what  any  one  thinks  of  others 
by  his  manner  of  treating  them,  by  the  motives  and 
appeals  he  addresses  to  them.  Now  there  is  a  distinc- 
tion observable  in  our  Savior's  manner  of  speaking  to 
men,  which  I  do  not  remember  to  have   seen  noticed. 


308  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

To  certain  classes  of  persons  he  spoke  with  great  se- 
verity—  to  the  hypocritical  Pharisee,  to  the  proud  pre- 
tender to  superior  virtue,  to  unrighteous  spiritual  op- 
pressors of  the  people.  But  to  men  generally,  and 
even  to  the  poor  and  degraded,  he  spoke  in  a  differ- 
ent tone —  with  tenderness,  with  sympathy.  He  ad- 
dressed them,  as  if  there  was  something  right  in  them 
—  something  at  least  that  would  respond  to  the 
touches  of  right  sentiment.  He  said,  "love  God; 
love  your  brethren :  God  is  your  father."  He  ad- 
dressed to  them  the  loftiest  and  most  heroic  motives. 
He  did  not  speak  to  them  as  mean  and  base  creatures, 
but  as  to  those  who  had  better  thoughts,  and  were 
capable  of  better  things.  In  no  assembly  of  heroes 
and  martyrs  could  ever  be  heard  nobler  appeals  than 
these,  "  Love  your  enemies,  bless  them  that  curse  you, 
do  good  to  them  that  hate  you,  and  pray  for  them  that 
despitefully  use  you."  And  this  was  not  addressed  to 
the  disciples  alone ;  for  although  the  disciples  gathered 
around  him  as  he  sat  on  the  mountain-side,  others  came 
also ;  and  it  is  said  at  the  close,  that  the  people  were 
astonished — or  as  it  would  be  better  rendered  —  the 
multitude  were  struck  with  admiration  at  his  doctrine. 
On  another  occasion,  after  he  had  poured  out  re- 
proaches upon  those  who  sat  in  Moses'  seat,  saying, 
"  Woe  unto  you.  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites," 
he  turns  with  infinite  tenderness  to  his  people,  and 
says,  "O  Jerusalem  I  Jerusalem  I   how  often  would  I 


309 


have  gathered  thy  childi'en  together,  even  as  a  hen 
gathereth  her  chickens  under  her  wings,  and  ye  would 
not."  Nothing  can  be  more  touching,  nor,  in  this  view, 
more  significant,  than  his  treatment  of  the  young 
man,  who  came  to  him,  kneeling  and  saying.  Master, 
what  good  thing  shall  I  do  ?  He  was  not  a  disciple 
of  Christ ;  he  was  not  regenerate,  in  our  modern  sense  ; 
he  was  like  many  others ;  he  was  a  type  of  human 
kind,  with  its  good  ideals,  and  the  will  too  weak  to 
carry  them  out.  Jesus  says  to  him,  "  thou  knowest 
the  commandments."  "  O  yes,  I  know  them,"  is  the 
reply  ;  "  I  have  kept  them  from  my  youth."  The  Mas- 
ter does  not  reproach  him  —  does  not  deny  his  claim. 
Well  nurtured,  trained  in  religion,  outwardly  blame- 
less, free  from  base  vices,  aspiring  to  something  higher, 
Jesus  looked  upon  him,  and  his  heart  was  touched ; 
"he  looked  upon  him  and  loved  him."  And  yet  he  said, 
with  great  tenderness,  I  do  not  doubt,  he  said — "  One 
thing  thou  lackest ;  if  thou  wilt  be  perfect,  sell  all  that 
thou  hast  and  give  to  the  poor ;  and  come,  follow  me." 
O  folding  arm  of  the  heavenly  shepherd !  why  do 
those  thou  lovest  and  longest  for,  wander  from  thee  ? 
Why,  upon  the  bare  mountains,  and  in  miry  ways  do 
they  wander  ?  Why  do  our  children,  the  young  of 
the  flock,  stray  away  into  the  world,  and  forget  the 
lowly  roof  that  sheltered  them,  and  the  lowly  prayer 
beneath  it  ?  When  thou,  good  shepherd,  art  ready  to 
take  them  to  thy  heart ;   when  thou  lookest  on  them 


310  PITTS-STREET  CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

and  lovest  them,  and  wouldst  hold  them  by  the  hand, 
and  lead  them  in  the  way,  —  why  do  they  wander  ? 

Because  —  for  one  reason —  they  are  told  they  do 
not  belong  to  the  flock.  Because  they  are  told  that 
they  have  no  part  nor  lot  in  the  great  inheritance  of 
God's  children.  Because  they  are  brought  up  to  think 
religion  as  far  from  them  as  heaven  is  from  earth. 

If  this  is  true,  we  must  submit  to  it,  and  sink  down 
beneath  the  awful  dispensation — our  hands  inactive, 
our  heads  bowed  in  the  dust — and  can  only  say, 
"  come,  O  wind  from  heaven,  and  blow  upon  us  and 
breathe  life  into  us."  If  it  is  not  true,  if  religion  is 
made  for  man  and  man  for  religion,  if  there  is  a  dear 
affinity  between  the  human  soul  and  things  holy,  how- 
ever alas!  marred  and  weakened,  then  in  heaven's 
name  and  in  the  name  of  humanity,  let  us  arouse  our- 
selves to  the  one  and  only  work  that  demands  our  ut- 
most care^  let  us  study  and  strive  to  be  true  and  pure, 
just  as  we  strive  and  study  to  be  wise  and  learned  ;  "  let 
us  labor,"  as  one  has  said,  "  as  if  we  could  do  every 
thing,  and  pray  as  if  we  could  do  nothing'; "  and  let 
us  train  up  our  children  in  this  way  in  which  they 
should  go,  believing  that  when  they  are  old,  they  will 
not  depart  from  it. 

The  difference  in  the  views  of  human  nature  here 
stated,  is  most  vital  to  its  treatment,  culture  and  hope, 
and,  as  a  lover  of  my  kind,  I  cannot  hesitate  which  to 
adopt.     I  love  my  theology  because  it  is  a  loving  the- 


DR.    DEWEY'S    LECTURE.  31 

ology ;  because  it  allows  me  to  be  a  loving  and  sym- 
pathising man,  and  does  not  require  me  forever  to  fight 
and  brow-beat  this  great  and  sacred  humanity — God's 
highest  work  on  earth.  I  am  not  preacher,  when  1 
preach.  I  sit  in  the  pews.  I  would  rather  speak  from 
that  level.  And  when  sitting  there  in  imagination,  I 
lift  my  eyes  to  him  that  stands  above,  I  am  sometimes 
tempted  to  say,  "  O  good  sir,  take  some  human 
thought  of  us ;  we  are  weak  and  erring  enough,  God 
knows  ;  we  are  full  of  faults,  and  they  are  sad  to  think 
of;  we  are  weary  and  want  rest;  we  are  struggling, 
and  would  find  peace  within  —  God's  peace  and  bles- 
sing; help  us  then,  and  do  not  be  hard  with  us  ;  if 
you  are  perfect  as  he  was  who  spake  to  the  young 
man  in  the  Gospel,  then  speak  to  us  with  his  love 
and  tenderness  and  respect ;  and  if  you  are  not,  but 
are  like  one  of  us,  then  speak  to  us  with  the  sympathy 
of  a  brother-heart." 

What  I  am  saying  —  with  some  liberty  of  manner 
—  is,  that  I  would  take  my  place  within  the  circle  and 
bosom  of  humanity  ;  and  that  is  where  I  do  not  think 
that  the  scholastic  theology  does  take  its  place.  I 
know  that  man  is  capable  of  being  very  bad.  I  think 
of  that,  it  may  be,  as  much  as  another.  But  I  do  not 
say,  it  is  just  what  we  might  expect  of  him.  I  do 
not  eagerly  and  gratifiedly  adduce  it  as  an  argu- 
ment for  his  utter  depravity.  No,  with  indignation  1 
look  upon  it  —  with  sorrow  and  wonder.     I  say,  how 


312  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES- 

can  such  a  being  as  man  is,  be  so  cruel,  hard,  intoler- 
ant—  a  tyrant,  a  persecutor,  a  brute,  a  demon. 

And  yet  who,  after  all,  is  altogether  a  brute  or  a 
demon  ?  It  is  a  rule  of  dramatic  writing,  whose 
business  it  is  to  draw  the  human  character  to  the  very 
life  ,  that  no  human  being  is  ever  truly  represented, 
without  a  mixture  of  good  3,nd  evil  in  him.  If  this  is 
true,  why  should  it  not  be  equally  a  truth  for  theology  ? 

No ;  man  is  not  an  angel,  nor  is  he  a  demon.  Aw- 
ful powers  are  struggling  within  him  —  conscience  on 
the  one  hand,  and  passion  on  the  other — and  never 
but  in  the  ascendency  of  conscience  over  passion,  can 
he  find  peace — never!  Even  old  Boethius,  pagan  as 
he  was,  might  teach  us  better  than  many,  under  Chris- 
tian nurture,  seem  to  know,  though  one  cannot  be- 
lieve but  that  he  must  have  read  the  Christian  books. 
When  he  comes,  in  his  work,  on  ''  Consolation,"  to 
the  last  dread  question  which  touches  and  trou- 
bles the  problem  of  human  life,  "why  are  the  bad 
so  often  fortunate  and  happy,  and  the  good,  unfor- 
tunate and  miserable  ?  why  the  .  bad  crowned,  and 
the  good  martyred  ?  why  is  vice  triumphant,  and 
virtue  crushed  in  the  dnst  beneath  it?"  bravely  he 
answejrs,  "  no,  it  is  not  so  ;  true  power  belongs  to  the 
good,  real  weakness  to  the  bad;  vice  is  never  unchas- 
tised,  and  virtue  never  without  recompense ;  good 
men  are  always  essentially  happy,  and  bad  men  are 
'Iways  really  miserable."      That  is  true;  and  all  that 


is  necessary  is,  more  sharply  to  define  it,  and  to  say  — 
the  effect  of  evil,  just  so  far  as  it  prevails  in  any  mind, 
is  to  make  it  unhappy,  and  the  effect  of  good,  in  the 
same  proportion,  is  to  make  the  mind  happy.  And 
what  a  nature  is  it,  of  which  that  is  true  ?  What  a 
struggle  must  there  be  in  the  deeps  of  such  a  nature 
to  be  looked  at,  with  infinite  concern  and  sympathy  ? 
Nay,  what  a  nature  is  that  which  speaks  out,  I  am 
sure,  in  many  here,  and  now,  and  says — there  *is  some- 
thing better  than  to  be  happy,  there  is  something 
worse  than  to  be  unhappy.  What  a  divine  law  is 
that^  to  be  graven  deep  upon  our  being !  And  what 
vindication  is  it,  of  the  nobler  idea  of  humanity,  when 
a  man  stands  up  erect  and  free  from  every  stooping 
baseness  and  vileness,  and  says,  "  I  feel  now  that  I  am 
a  man  I  "  Against  the  whole  tide  of  any  theology,  or 
prejudice,  or  obloquy  that  beats,  with  undistinguish- 
ing  hostility  upon  all  that  is  human,  I  do  not  fear  to 
take  up  that  word,  and  to  say  to  every  man,  that 
would  throw  off  the  "trammels  of  any  vice,  or  vanity, 
or  worldliness,  of  any  godless  impiety  or  profane  and 
debauching  vileness  —  to  say  to  him,  "  rise  up,  and  be 
a  man  I " 

But  after  all  there  may  be  some  here  who  still  have 
questions  in  their  minds ;  who  ask,  perhaps,  how  all 
this  applies  to  the  great  subject  of  what  we  call  man's 
salvation  ;  how  it  is  that  man  is  to  become  man :  how 

27 


314:  PITTS-STREET  CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

it  is  that  man  is  to  become  regenerate  and  pure;  and 
what  is  the  help  that  the  Christ  offers  him  to  this  end. 
In  the  first  place  then,  I  must  say  that  my  idea  of 
religion  is  very  inadequately,  very  poorly  set  forth  by 
the  word  "  salvation."  In  its  present  and  popular  use 
it  does  not  mean  precisely  what  it  did  in  the  first  age. 
When  the  Gospel  was  preached  to  Pagans  and  Jews, 
to  men  lying  under  the  bondage  of  religious  ceremonial 
or  superstitious  fear,  it  was  deliverance,  it  was  "  salva- 
tion "  that  was  preached.  And  still,  doubtless,  there 
is  a  sense  in  which  the  same  word  may  be  justly  used. 
But  for  us  now,  as  we  do,  constantly  to  represent  the 
entire  work  of  spiritual  regeneration  and  growth,  as  a 
salvation,  as  an  escape  from  sin  and  wrath,  is,  as  I 
view  it,  to  narrow  the  whole  subject.  Is  it  not  more  ? 
Is  it  not  to  put  a  selfish  element  into  the  innermost  life 
of  sanctity  and  virtue  ?  He  who  flies,  does  it  from 
fear ;  and  I  know  no  passion  that  I  less  desire  to  be 
mioved  by  than  the  passion  of  fear.  It  must  have  its 
place ;  but  to  give  it  the  first  place,  to  put  it  foremost 
in  the  battle  for  virtue  and  purity,  is  to  deny  to  the 
noblest  endeavor  on  earth  its  proper  grandeur  and 
beauty.  We  have  indeed  to  fight  spiritual  foes  ;  but 
what  would  be  thought  of  it,  if  it  were  to  be  said  to 
combatants  for  their  country — not  *'  strike  for  your 
altars  and  your  fires;"  but  "  strike  doughtily  at  your 
foes,  for  if  you  do  not  kill  them,  they  will  kill  you ; " 
or  worse,  to  say,  "  strike  not  at  all,  but  flee  for  youj 


DR.    DEWEY'S    LECTURE.  315 

lives  to  some  place  of  safety.''^  Is  safety  all — is  it 
chiefly^  what  we  are  to  seek  in  religion  ? 

I  know  that  for  man,  weak,  sick  at  heart,  wandering 
and  in  peril,  salvation  is  needful ;  it  is  the  fit  word  for 
his  case  in  certain  respects ;  but  it  does  not  cover  the 
whole  ground  as  it  is  commonly  and  technically  made 
to  do.  I  may  be  reminded  too,  that  Jesus  is  called  our 
Saviour  in  the  New  Testament — that  Jesus  means  Sa- 
viour ;  but  1  must  still  desire  you  to  observe  that  that 
name  does  not  usurp  the  whole  idea  of  him  in  the 
Gospel.  Rather  does  it  hold  that  place  in  the  record 
which  fear  should  hold  in  our  religion.  The  phrase 
"  the  Saviour,"  or  "  our  Saviour,"  is  used,  I  think,  but 
fifteen  times  in  the  New  Testament;  while  several 
hundred  times  Jesus  is  called  the  Christ. 

Bat  this  leads  me,  in  the  next  place,  to  a  further  ob- 
servation; and  that  is  upon  the  place  which  Jesua 
Christ  actually  holds  in  our  regeneration,  in  our  spirit- 
ual life.  On  this  subject,  I  must  be  permitted  to  ex- 
press my  conviction,  that  there  has  been  a  morbid 
exaggeration,  almost  from  the  beginning  We  have 
departed,  I  believe,  from  the  original  simplicity  of  the 
Gospel.  The  superstition  of  the  dark  ages ;  the  desire, 
always  and  naturally  felt,  to  exalt  the  mercy  of  God  in 
his  greatest,  "  his  unspeakable  gift"  to  the  world  ;  and 
the  vying  of  Christian  sects  to  honor  their  Common 
Head,  have  led  to  a  manner  of  speaking  of  Christ 
which  I  believe  he  himself  would  have  forbidden  — - 


316  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

which,  virtually,  I  think.  He  has  forbidden.  "  Why 
callest  thou  me  good?"  he  says,  "  there  is  none  good 
but  one,  that  is  God."  That  absolute  supremacy  of 
the  one  Infinite  Being,  —  always  he  held  it  clear  and 
high  in  his  teachings.  "  I  can  of  mine  own  self  do 
nothing  ;  I  seek  not  mine  own  will,  but  the  will  of  the 
Father  which  hath  sent  me."  "  I  came  forth  from  the 
Father,  and  am  come  into  the  world ;  again  I  leave 
the  world,  and  go  to  the  Father."  And  when  about 
to  depart,  he  says,  "  go  to  my  brethren  and  say  unto 
them,  I  ascend  unto  my  Father  and  your  Father,  and 
unto  my  God  and  your  God."  It  is  not  that  there  is 
among  Christians  too  much  of  a  reverent  and  affection- 
ate veneration  for  Christ  —  no,  nor  the  hundredth  part 
enough  ;  but  it  is  a  certain  theological  mysticism  and 
exaggeration  of  which  I  complain.  When  it  is  said 
or  implied  that  the  love  of  Jesus  is  the  highest  type  of 
religious  experience ;  when,  to  gather  all  our  thoughts 
and  hopes  and  reliances  about  him,  is  represented  as 
the  best  guaranty  for  the  true  experience,  I  am  con- 
strained by  my  allegiance  to  the  Highest  —  nay,  by 
my  allegiance  to  the  Master  himself,  to  say,  no ;  God 
IS  ALL  IN  ALL,  to  1716.  I  siuk  iuto  the  bosom  of  the 
Infinite  Goodness ;  that  is  the  Infinite  to  ine ;  and 
Jesus  is  the  blessed  Minister  and  Mediator  who  has 
"brought  me  nigh"  to  it.  We  have  departed,  I  must 
venture  to  say  and  repeat,  from  the  simplicity  of  the 
Gospel  and  its  first  teachers.     The  dying  man  in  these 


317 

days  is  thought  to  give  the  most  hopeful  sign  when 
he  says,  "  Nothing  but  Christ ;  nothing  but  Christ ;  I 
have  done  nothing ;  I  am  nothing ;  all  my  reliance  is 
upon  Mm;''''  but  what  said  Paul,  when  he  was  ready 
to  be  offered ?  "I  have  fought  a  good  fight ;  I  have 
finished  my  com-se ;  I  have  kept  the  faith ;  henceforth 
there  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness,  which 
the  Lord  the  righteous  Judge  will  give  me  in  that 
day." 

But  what  then,  has  Christ  done  for  us  ?  What  is 
he  to  us  ?  •  And  what  do  we  mean  when  we  pray  in 
his  name  ? 

Jesus  Chi'ist  is  our  Master,  oiir  spiritual  Lord,  our 
Saviour ;  the  brightness  of  God's  glory,  and  the  express 
image  of  his  person  ;  Immanuel —  God  with  us.  He 
has  spoken  to  us  as  man  never  spake  ;  he  has  lived  as 
neyerrnan  lived;  he  died  as  never  man  died.  Noth- 
ing so  perfect  was  ever  in  the  world  before,  or  beside. 
All  the  Christian  ages,  all  Christian  hearts,  attest 
that  never  else  has  there  been  such  a  mission  of 
power  and  light  and  life  to  the  world  as  this  "  glo- 
rious Gospel  of  th-e  blessed  God."  And  wherein 
lay  its  power  ?  In  unveiling  to  us  the  love  and 
loveliness  of  the  Divine  Nature ;  in  teaching  us  and 
making  us  feel  that  God  is  our  Father :  in  assuring 
us  by  every  word  and  by  every  suffering  of  the  holy, 
the  anointed  One,  of  God's  mercy,  of  his  pity,  of 
his  willingness  to  forgive.      And  when  we  pray  in 

27* 


318  PITTS-STREET  CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

the  name  of  Christ,  we  pray  in  the  name,  i.  e.,  in 
the  acknowledgement  of  that  mercy,  which  he  has 
taught  and  brought  to  us  —  in  reliance  upon  it.  When 
we  end  our  prayers  by  saying,  "  through  Jesus  Christ," 
it  is,  not  as  if  there  was  no  other  manifestation  of 
the  infinite  mercy,  but  in  confession  and  attestation 
of  this  —  of  Christ's  teaching  and  living  and  dying 
as  the  chiefest  sign  and  seal  of  God's  mercy. 

Jesus  spoke,  appealed,  addressed  himself,  to  men. 
To  what  in  them  did  he-  speak  ?  To  the  sense  of 
right,  of  truth,  of  religion;  else  he  could  not  have 
spoken  to  them  at  all.  There  is  a  religion  in  human- 
ity ;  there  was^  before  Christ  came.  And  if  we  say, 
or  imply  in  what  we  say,  that  there  is  no  religion 
in  the  world,  but  what  comes  through  him,  we  say 
what  is  not  true  —  what  the  very  conditions  implied 
in  one  man's  speaking  to  another,  show  not  to  be 
true  —  what  the  Apostle  declares  not  to  be  true,  when 
he  speaks  of  those  who  "  by  nature  do  the  things  con- 
tained in  the  Law."  No,  Jesus  spoke  to  the  awful 
conscience  in  man  ;  to  the  recognition  of  God,  every 
where  prevailing ;  to  the  everlasting  sense  of  duty. 
Such  winning,  such  tender,  pitying,  sympathizing  — 
I  will  even  say,  such  respectful  speech,  man  had  never 
heard  before.  Sunk  in  ignorance,  toil  and  contempt, 
the  mass  of  men  lay ;  and  no  man  cared  for^  then- 
souls.  By  the  loveliness  of  his  life,  by  the  sweetness 
of  his  entieaty,  by  the  patience   of  his  endurance,  b; 


DR.  Dewey's  lecture.  319 

0 

the  tenderness  of  his  accents,  he  would  raise  them  up. 
From-  all  their  weary  wanderings  in  sin  and  sorrow, 
he  called  them  back  and  said,  "  come  unto  me,  all  ye 
that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you 
rest.  Take  my  yoke  which  is  easy,  and  my  burthen 
which  is  light;  and  ye  shall  find  rest  to  your  souls." 

•And  now,  what  especially  did  he  say  ?  What  did 
he  require  ?  Repentance,  faith  —  faith  in  God'» 
mercy  —  faith  in  himself,  as  the -messenger  and  me- 
diator through  whom  it  came  —  anew  heart  and  a 
new  life.  All  this  is  what  we  now  mean  by  conver- 
sion, by  regeneration.  And  what  is  regeneration? 
Man  is  born  once  physically ;  he  must  be  born  again 
spiritually.  This  spiritual  life  should  begin  with  his 
first  moral  consciousness,  and  should  go  on  and  be 
developed  more  and  more  through  his  whole  earthly 
course.  It  should  not  be  put  off  till  twenty,  thirty,  or 
forty  years  of  age,  then  to  form  a  crisis  in  life.  If  it 
is  put  off — as,  alas!  it  too  commonly  is  —  then,  by 
all  the  sacred  interests  of  our  being,  let  there  be  a 
crisis !  But  how  monstrous  is  it  to  say  and  settle  it 
with  ourselves,  that  our  children  are  to' be  left  to  go 
on  for  years  in  sin,  in  estrangement  from  religion  and 
from  God,  and  then,  perchance,  to  be  brought  Into  the 
fold.  No ;  "  train  up  a  child  in  the  way  in  which  he 
should  go."  Let  parents  win  him  by  the  loveliness 
of  their  example,  by  the  tenderness  of  their  prayers, 
by  the  habit  of  revering  and  speaking  of  all  things 


320  PITTS-STREET  CHAPEL   LECTURES. 


V 


sacred  and  good,  by  the  very  atmosphere  of  truth, 
gentleness,  and  piety,  in  which  they  live.  It  will  do 
more  than  a  thousand  catechisms.  Th^  catechisms 
may  be  very  well,  and  Sunday  Schools  may  be  very 
well,  to  teach  the  facts  of  religion ;  but  beware,  men 
and  brethren  !  beware,  fathers  and  mothers  !  how  you 
put  off  upon  them^  your  holy  charge  —  how  you  trust 
•to  catechisms  or  Sunday  Schools,  to  make  your  chil- 
dren devout,  loving,  true  and  pure.  Nothing  but  the 
holy  altar  and  sacred  hearth-stone  of  domestic  piety 
and  love  will  ever  rightly  do  that.  Jesus  "took  little 
children  in  his  arms,  and  blessed  them,  and  said,  of 
such  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  Would  that  we 
understood  what  that  meant!  • 

But  I  have  said  enough,  perhaps ;  that  is,  I  have 
detained  you  long  enough;  if  I  were  to  add  another 
word,  it  would  be  to  say,  that  no  religion  can  work 
powerfully  and  effectually  in  us,  that  does  not  work 
rationally,  and,  I  will  say,  naturally.  This  old  Mani- 
^chsean  dread  among  us  of  the  word,  nature^  is  a  re- 
markable thing.  Nature  is  God's  order  and  law,  and 
to  rely  upon  it  is  a  law  of  our  minds.  Let  there  be 
any  deviation  from  the  ordinary  course  of  nature  — 
let  the  step  of  the  earthquake  jar  our  dwelling,  or  the 
stroke  of  insanity  hang  over  us,  and  we  are  filled  with 
horror.  But  let  nature  come  into  our  religion,  and  it 
is  held  to  be  the  fatal  sign  and  signal  of  ruin  to  the 
whole  system. 


DR.  Dewey's  lecture.  321 

I  believe  in  the  supernatural.  I  believe  in  the  mira- 
cles of  Christ.  But  when  they  have  attested  him  to  be 
"  a  teacher  come  from  God;"  when  he  has  spoken  to 
us,  and  taught  us  the  way,  the  truth  and  the  life,  then 
must  the  grace  divine  work  in  us  according  to  the 
laws  of  our  spiritual  constitution,  *or  it  will  never 
effectually  work  at  all.  The  religion  that  is  artificial, 
factitious,  made  up,  unnatural,  is  not  religion ;  it  is 
superstition,  sanctimony,. ceremony  —  no  more.  Out- 
wardly and  inwardly  must  religion  work  so,  to  work 
well.  Prayer,  and  preaching,  and  singing  of  hymns, 
and  baptism,  and  confirmation,  and  communion,  must 
be  shown  and  seen  to  have  a  natural  fitness,  in  order 
to  have  a  healthy  influence.  A  communion  that  is 
all  constraint  and  demureness  is  not  good ;  only  is  it 
so  when  it  is  a  natural,  free,  fresh,  earnest  participa- 
tion. But  most  of  all,  inwardly,  and  in  the  daily  life 
of  religion,  there  must  be  nature  and  freedom.  I  do 
not  desire  to  see  a  Christian  man  who  always  carries 
the  same  face  i—  least  of  all  a  solemn  one.  The  gay 
and  the  joyous  have  their  place  in  the  right  life  as 
truly  as  the  serious  and  resolved.  Always  to  say 
what  I  must  say  —  always  to  do  what  I  must  do,  be- 
cause I  am  a  professor^  or  preacher^  —  I  would  not  live 
such  a  life  for  Ophir  or  India.  No,  I  live  in  God's 
world,  and  am  made  free  and  welcome  in  the  house 
of  my  Father.  No :  not  form,  but  substance ;  not 
ceremony,   but  reality ;   not   bondage,   but   freedom ; 


322    ,  PITTS-STREET    CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

not  demureness,  but  freshness  and  vitality  ;  not  re- 
pression, but  expansion ;  not  to  make  myself  less, 
but  more  and  more ;  not  to  crush  myself  down  in 
abjectness,  but  to  open  my  arms  wider  and  wider  to 
the  infinite  Good  —  such  must  be  the  going  forth,  in 
me,  of  the  everlasting  life. 


SEVENTH    LECTURE. 


BY 

REY.   THOMAS  STARR  KING, 

PASTOR     OF     THE    HOLLI3     STREET     CHURCH. 

323 


VII. 

SPIRITUAL    CHRISTIANITY. 


**  now  we  have  received  not  the  spirit  of  the  world,  bfjt  the 
spirit  which  is  of  god;  that  we  might  know  the  things  that 
are  freely  given  to  us  of  god."  —  1  cor.  ii.  12. 

"  The  spirit  itself  beareth  witness  with   our  spirit   that  wb 

ARE   THE    children    OF     GOD;     AND     IF     CHILDREN,     THEN    HEIRS;    HEIRS 
OF    GOD,   AND    JOINT   HEIRS   WITH    CHRIST."  —  RomanS,  VIII.  16,  17. 

"  The  FRUIT  OF  the  spirit  is  IN  ALL  GOODNESS,  AND  RIGHTEOUS- 
NESS, AND  TRUTH."  —  Ephesians,  V,  9. 

The  clergymen  who  have  spoken  in  the  course  of 
lectures  that  is  to  be  closed  to-night,  have  had  each  a 
definite  scheme  or  outline  of  religious  thought  to  sup- 
port and  commend.  I  am  asked  to  speak  not  in 
exposition  or  defence  of  any  theological  articles  or 
confession,  but,  so  far  as  .  I  am  able,  of  Spiritual 
Christianity,  which  is  independent  of  institutions  and 
systems,  which  is  the  substance  and  soul  in  all  creeds 
and  organizations,  which  declares  itself  not  through 
councils  and  catechisms,  but  through  worship  and 
life,  and  by  which,  as  a  common  vitality  through  di- 
verse fractions,  the  church,  out  of  many  members,  is 
made  one  body. 

28  S25 


/ 

326  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

Is  th-ere  any  such  common  penetrative  and  vivifying 
Christianity  as  this  ?  The  question  is  put  to  us  with 
peculiar  emphasis,  and  should  awaken  peculiar  inter- 
est at  the  close  of  a  series  of  discourses,  in  which 
men  of  widely  different  theologies,  and  all  represent- 
ing modern  parties  and  organizations,  too,  have  been 
heard.  The  names,  Methodist,  Universalist,  Episco- 
palian, Baptist,  Unitarian,  Calvinist,  Congregation- 
alist,  have  not  the  savor  of  antiquity.  They  stand 
for  organizations  and  creeds  that  are  of  recent  date. 
Not  one  of  them  suggests  a  scheme  of  religious 
thought  that  is  coincident  with  the  belief  of  the 
church  in  the  first  half  of  the  second  century.  My 
own  conviction  is  that  not  one  of  them  clearly  inter- 
prets and  reproduces  the  theology  of  St.  Paul.  The 
sects  which  those  names  represent  have  all  produced 
men,  within  this  century,  as  consecrated  as  any  that 
shine  in  the  annals  of  saintliness  and  service,  —  men 
equally  devoted,  out  of  love  to  God  and  man,  to  the 
peculiarities  of  their  belief.  Yet  their  creeds  are  hos- 
tile and  contradictory,  their  churches  have  sometimes 
been  at  war,  and  they  are  all  summarily  condemned 
in  dogma  and  polity  as  heretic  and  alien,  equally 
blind,  impotent  and  graceless,  by  the  oldest  branch  of 
historic  Christendom. 

Is  there  any  theory  of  Christianity  that,  in  spite  of 
doctrinal  and  ritual  diversities,  will  bring  all  these 
parties  within  the  pale  of  substantial  truth,  and  that 


MR.  king's  lecture.  327 

will  justify  them  against  the  anathema  of  the  oldest 
and  most  powerful  of  the  churches  ?  Is  there  any 
theory,  —  not  of  shallow  compromise,  emptying  Chris- 
tianity of  its  deepest  significance  for  the  sake  of 
superficial  and  sterile  toleration,  —  but  deep  as  well  as 
generous,  penetrating  to  the  very  vitals  of  the  Gospel, 
— that  will  accept  all  these  parties,  young  as  they  are, 
discordant  as  their  intellectual  confessions  seem,  and 
dispose  them  into  a  large  historic  choir  of  the  Spirit  ? 
K  Christianity  is  involved  with  any  precise  scheme 
of  dogmas  that  must  be  symmetrically  proportioned 
as  the  condition  of  its  redeeming  power,  then  not 
more  than  one  sect  out  of  the  scores  that  have 
attempted  to  mould  Infinite  truth  can  be  considered 
its  organ.  If  it  flows  only  in  the  channels  of  institu- 
tions, and  cannot  leap  out  of  the  conductors  of  sacra- 
ments and  clergy,  then  no  liberal  and  comprehensive 
conception  of  church  history  can  be  tolerated ;  and  we 
must  hasten  for  salvation  within  the  walls  which  the 
spirit  refuses  to  overpass.  Or,  still  further,  if  the 
mental  acceptance  of  one  or  two  prominent  doctrines, 
such  as  the  Trinity,  or  the  sacrificial  death  of  Jesus  as 
a  safisfaction  to  God  or  to  his  law,  is  indispensable, 
—  if  the  redeeming  energy  of  the  spirit  concentrates 
and  restricts  itself  within  the  range  of  belief  in  these 
doctrines,  —  then  all  Unitarian  excellence  and  experi- 
ence must  be  stricken  from  the  trophies  and  protection 


328  PITTS-STREET  CHAPEL  LECTURES. 

of  Christianity,  as  false  blossoms  in  the  vineyard,  void 
of  the  beauty  and  the  fragrance  of  grace. 

What,  then,  is  to  be  our  starting  point,  our  position 
of  survey  over  Christendom  ?  Our  conception  of 
spiritual  Christianity,  of  its  credentials  and  fruits  to- 
day, and  of  the  partnership  in  it  of  unconsonant  be- 
lievers, must  be  characterised  and  measure!  by  our 
estimate  of  what  ChMstianity  was  in  its  origin,  what 
its  vital  centre  was  in  the  Apostolic  age,  and  by  what 
agencies  it  was  to  be  sustained  in  society. 

To  the  question  of  what  Christianity  was  in  its 
origin,  only  the  highest  answer,  it  seems  to  me,  is  the 
adequate  answer.  It  was  the  communication  of  life 
to  the  race  from  the  heavens.  It  was  not  a  philoso- 
phy, a  reaching  up  of  the  human  intellect  through 
Jesus,  James,  and  Paul  to  the  attainment  of  a  little 
higher  truth  and  a  little  more  truth  than  had  been 
mastered  before  ;  but  an  unsealing  of  the  treasury  of 
the  skies,  an  overflow  into  time  of  the  Infinite  light 
and  grace  to  illumine  and  regenerate  the  world. 

We  have  had  in  recent  years  rationalistic  explana- 
tions, and  naturalistic  theories  of  the  substance  and 
origin  of  Christianity.  Many  of  them  have  been  in- 
vested with  great  learning  and  urged  with  remarkable 
ability.  They  have  been  provoked,  no  doubt,  by  the 
rigid  and  superstitious  estimates  of  records  and  inspi- 
ration in  the  Protestant  church  ;  and  there  can  be  lit- 


MR.  king's  lecture.  329 

tie  question  that  they  will  lead  to  a  more  comprehen- 
sive conception  of  the  forces  and  the  historic  channels 
of  Christianity  than  the  mind  of  the  Church  has  ever 
held.  But  as  an  explanation  of  the  Christian  religion, 
and  of  its  relations  past,  present,  and  prospective,  to 
civilization  and  the  spiritual  life  of  man,  rationalism 
is  unsatisfactory  and  shallow.  Christianity  was  the 
communication  of  divine  power  to  humanity  by  the 
unfolding  from  God  of  more  of  the  eternal  love  and 
truth,  and  the  organization  into  society  of  a  grace 
that  should  strive  against  all  the  energies  of  evil, 
working  as  celestial  leaven  in  the  earthly  meal. 

This  disclosure  of  the  liighest  truth  from  the 
heavens  was  first  made,  this  renovating  tide  into  the 
arteries  of  a  corrupt  and  collapsing  world  was  first 
poured,  through  Jesus  Christ.  He  came  that  we 
*'  might  have  life,  and  have  it  more  abundantly."  It 
seems  to  me  that  we  misunderstand  his  mission,  unless 
we  see  that,  in  his  ministry  and  person,  God  came  by 
organic  contact  into  history,  so  that  then  the  great 
hour  of  revival  and  redemption  struck  for  humanity. 
But  we  equally  misread  the  characteristics  of  his 
faith,  if  we  do  not  see  that  he  himself  never  an- 
nounced any  theory  of  his  personality  and  preexistent 
rank  as  vitally  connected  with  his  religion,  —  to  be 
made  a  test  of  sound  faith,  a  proper  measure  of  fel- 
lowship, or  a  condition  of  receiving  and  transmitting 

28* 


330  PITTS-STREET    CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

the  regenerating  power  which  he  inaugurated  among 
men. 

After  he  passed  from  the  world,  the  Church  began 
to  widen  beyond  Syrian  boundaries  and  the  lines  of 
the  Old  Testament  tradition.  And  then  the  greatest 
of  the  Apostles  published  the  doctrine,  and  wrought 
in  the  power  of  it,  that  the  Church  was  to  live  by  the 
immediate  reception  and  diffusion  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
We  do  not  generally  appreciate  or  perceive  the  sweep 
and  implications  of  St.  Paul's  thought  in  this  respect. 
Christianity,  to  his  mind,  was  the  communication 
of  a  power  to  human  souls,  through  Christ,  which 
revealed  God  directly  as  the  Father^  and  wakened 
the  dormant  spiritual  capacities  to  intense  life.  It 
did  this,  not  by  declaring  truth  abstractly  and  out- 
wardly, but  by  lifting  the  soul  into  fellowship  with  the 
Divine  ;  making  it  a  joint-heir  of  God  with  Christ ; 
delivering  it  from  bondage  to  sin  and  the  slavish  ser- 
vice of  an  unsympathetic  and  blasting  law  by  the  sup- 
ply of  a  celestial  strength  that  raised  it  to  the  disposi- 
tion of  free  and  joyous  consecration  to  the  Infinite 
love. 

How  else  shall  we  read  these  passages  from  the 
Epistles  ?  "  We  have  the  mind  of  the  spirit."  "  Ye 
are  not  in  the  flesh,  but  in  the  spirit,  if  so  be  that  the 
spirit  of  God  dwell  in  you."  "  The  spirit  itself  beareth 
witness  with  our  spirit,  that  we  are  the  children  of 


MR.  king's  lecture.  3B1 

God."  "  We  have  received  not  the  spirit  of  the  world, 
but  the  spirit  which  is  of  God ;  that  we  might  know 
the  things  that  are  freely  given  to  us  of  God."  "  Know 
ye  not  that  ye  are  the  temple  of  God,  and  that  the 
spirit  of  God  dwelleth  in  you  ?  "  "  Know  ye  not  that 
your  body  is  the  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  ye 
have  of  God  ?  "  "  Eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard, 
neither  have  entered  into  the  heart  of  man,  the  things 
which  God  hath  prepared  for  them  that  love  him. 
But  God  hath  revealed  them  unto  us  by  his  spirit ; 
for  the  spirit  searcheth  all  things,  yea,  the  deep  things 
of  God."  "  We  know  not  what  we  should  pray  for 
as  we  ought ;  but  the  spirit  itself  maketh  intercession 
for  us  with  groanings  which  cannot  be  uttered." 

Thus  Christianity  in  its  first  promulgation  by  St. 
Paul  was  a  very  different  thing  from  a  preceptive  re- 
ligion. It  was  not  involved  at  all  with  questions  of 
documents.  It  was  not  implicated  with  the  veracity 
of  every  paragraph  of  memorabilia.  It  was  not 
pledged  to  theories  of  the  plenary  and  verbal  inspira- 
tion of  narratives  that  differ  in  a  hundred  instances  of 
incident  and  detail.  Neither  do  we  find  St.  Paul  hon- 
oring the  conception  which  a  large  class  of  Unitarians 
have  worked  out,  that  the  study  of  the  life  of  Jesus  as 
an  example  was  to  be  the  practical  and  redeeming 
force  of  the  gospel.  The  four  biographies  were  not 
written  when  he  preached.  His  own  letters  were  the 
earliest  documents  of  our  New  Testament      And  so 


6.yZ  PTTTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

it  was  impossible  for  him  to  hold  the  modern  "  evan- 
gelical" conception  of  Christianity  as  a  legacy  of 
celestial  life  ;  of  inspiration  in  archives,  and  verified 
by  affidavits  ;  and  of  the  New  Testament  as  a  parch- 
ment protocol  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  enclosing  the  finished 
and  final  truth  on  which  Christendom  is  to  live  for- 
ever. 

If  St.  Paul  could  have  looked  forward  into  the 
eighteenth  century  from  his  preaching,  how  would  he 
have  been  amazed  at  the  general  bondage  of  the 
Christian  mind.  We  are  taught  to  regard  the  gospel 
as  a  will,  published  once  from  heaven,  recorded  by 
four  transcribers,  with  various  Apostolic  codicils, 
which  a  believing  man  is  to  read  over  in  seasons 
of  despondency.  In  this  way  his  personal  inability 
to  know  anything  immediately  of  infinite  truth,  may 
be  compensated  by  verbal  testimony  about  God,  and 
his  duty,  and  what  Christ  once  wrought  for  him,  and 
what  definite  good  is  yet  in  store  for  him.  And  thus 
he  may  begin  or  strengthen  a  life  of  anticipation, 
which  is  what  is  usually  meant  by  the  life  of  faith ! 
St.  Paul  could  not  have  dreamed  that  the  church 
would  ever  lapse  into  such  a  memorial  theory  of  eter- 
nal life  —  into  what  a  living  Orthodox  writer  (living 
in  every  sense  of  the  word)  has  aptly  called  "  a  sec- 
ond-hand religion,  a  notional  religion,  distant  and 
dry." 

The  power  and  value  of  Christ  to  him  were  that 


MR.  king's  lecture.  333 

he  had  opened  new  avenues  for  a  direct  access  of  the 
Divine  Spirit  to  the  soul  of  man.  The  grace  which 
Christ  instituted  as  the  public  and  constant  dispensa- 
tion from  the  infinite  life  for  ail  who  were  willing  to 
receive  it,  was  of  unspeakably  more  moment  to  him 
than  the  recorded  fragments  of  his  earthly  biography. 
He  held  that  Christians  were  to  derive  their  deepest 
truth,  their  comfort  and  their  quickening,  and  their 
assurance  of  eternal  things,  from  that,  and  not  from 
any  cunningly  coupled  paragraphs  of  sacred  tradition, 
or  collated  mosaic-work  of  texts.  Over  him,  and  over 
the  whole  Church,  in  his  view,  was  the  cross,  or  rather 
the  figure  of  Him  who  bore  its  pain,  and  despised  its 
shame,  set  in  the  gloom  of  the  pharisaic  and  heathen 
sky.  Through  that  sacred  form  the  beams  of  Infinite 
truth  poured,  with  the  expression  of  love,  wide  over 
the  world.  Penitence  for  sin,  and  faith  in  the  Ineffable 
grace,  purged  the  eyes  of  the  soul,  pagan  or  Jew,  so 
that  it  could  see  more  and  more  clearly  that  glorious 
fissure  in  the  black  and  chilly  night,  and  be  sure  of  the 
infinite  love  by  direct  vision,  and  receive  its  beams 
into  the  bosom  as  a  cordial  power. 

God  was  no  more  to  the  Apostle's  thought  a  dread 
Monarch,  the  haughty  Czar  of  the  universe,  dwelling  in 
'  unapproachable  isolation  ;  no  frosty  Holiness,  reserving 
himself  from  the  polluting  touch  of  human  evil;  no 
omnipotent  Chancellor  of  the  moral  realm,  administer- 
ing justice  according  to  technical  covenants,  and  hold- 


334  PITTS-STREET  CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

ing  a  bankrupt  humanity  to  what  is  "  nominated  in  the 
bond ;"  no  exclusive  Patron  of  one  race,  accounting  all 
others  abominable  and  accursed  forever ;  no  omnisci- 
ent and  microscopic  Critic  apportioning  His  favor 
according  to  the  nice  Pharisaic  etiquette  of  the  dis- 
tant addresses  to  Him.  He  was  a  present,  intimate, 
gracious,  and  cleansing  Spirit.  He  had  cloven  the 
thick  firmament  of  a  common  iniquity,  to  come  near 
the  dark  and  alien  world  with  His  energy  and  love. 
The  cross  and  the  form  of  Jesus  set  in  the  zenith  of  the 
spiritual  heavens  were  the  medium,  to  give  "  the  light 
of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God,"  shrouded  before, 
and  to  publish  His  common  grace  to  all  nations. 
Through  that  figure,  incorporating  and  coloring  the 
Infinite  glory  that  blazed  behind  it,  and  diffusing  it  to 
all  the  spaces  of  the  moral  world,  the  soul  obtained  at 
once  the  knowledge  of  the  conspiring  agencies  of 
redemption,  —  Father,  Son,  and  Spirit,  —  and  walked 
in  newness  of  life  in  an  illuminated  world. 

I  must  not,  and  need  not,  pause  here  to  outline  more 
definitely  the  Christolqgy  of  St.  Paul,  or  to  refer  to  sub- 
sidiary doctrines  in  his  pages.  All  that  it  is  now  essen- 
tial for  us  to  see  is,  that  the  characteristic  of  St.  Paul's 
conception  of  Christ  as  a  permanent  force  in  the  world 
was  the  gift  of  the  Spirit,  through  the  ministry  and 
tiiumph  of  Christ,  as  a  new  organic  power  upon  souls. 
By  the  reception  of  this  a  man  was  enabled  to  live  a 
free,  filial,  and  victorious  life  in  the  world.     The  soul 


MR.  king's  lecture.  335 

obtained  participation  in  the  Divine  life.  A  faculty 
higher  than  the  natural  understanding  was  awakened 
and  sustained.  A  life  in  the  atmosphere  of  the  Spirit 
was  the  reward  and  seal  of  a  real  conversion  to  Chris- 
tian Truth.  Through  repentance  for  sin,  and  the  inmost 
acknowledgment  of  Jesus  as  the  representative  of 
Infinite  grace,  the  inward  doors  of  the  soul  were  open- 
ed, and  windows  were  set  in  its  prison  walls.  The 
very  radiance  and  breath  of  the  Infinite  which  Christ 
had  brought  into  the  world  by  his  ministry,  and  for 
which  he  had  opened  larger  channels  through  his  cross, 
his  conquest  of  death,  and  his  ascension,  were  diffused 
into  the  mind,  and  conscience,  and  heart  of  the  disci- 
ple. He  was  no  longer  a  servant,  but  was  adopted 
into  the  Divine  household.  It  was  his  privilege  then 
to  stand  in  the  same  relations  towards  God  that  Christ 
did,  —  as  a  son  of  the  everlasting  love.  By  prayer  and 
service  the  Holy  Spuit  came  into  the  soul,  according 
to  the  Apostle's  thought,  in  larger  streams.  It  showed 
the  man  his  duty  by  immediate  light.  It  pledged  and 
invigorated  his  will,  and  sweetened  his  affections,  and 
increased  his  joy.  It  lifted  him  above  trials  and  sor- 
rows, and  was  stronger  in  him  than  the  whole  outward 
world.  He  could  say  "  I  reckon  that  the  sufferings  of 
this  present  time  are  not  worthy  to  be  compared  with 
the  glory  that  shall  be  revealed  in  us."  It  made  him 
sure  of  God's  existence  and  goodness,  of  eternity  and 
the  love  of  God  in  eternity,  by  present  revelation,  — 


336  PITTS-STREET  CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

just  as  the  ear  is  sure  of  melody,  just  as  the  eye  is 
sure  of  light,  and  of  the  deeps  of  heaven,  and  the  trem- 
bling stars.  The  soul  became,  as  it  were,  according  to 
another  figure  of  the  Apostle,  a  member  or  fibre  of  the 
very  body  of  Jesus.  And  it  no  more  needed  outward 
and  logical  testimony  of  spiritual  things,  than  the  fin- 
ger, warmed  and  moved  by  the  life-currents  of  the 
heart  and  the  purposes  of  the  brain  would  need,  if  it 
were  self-conscious,  some  external  proof  that  it  is  in 
connection  with  the  soul. 

This  generous  and  inspiring,  yet  humbling  and 
searching  truth,  around  which  the  Church  of  Christ 
was  organised  in  the  Apostolic  days,  is  the  truth  by 
which  it  is  stiil  kept  alive.  Through  this  alone  it 
can  grow  and  triumph.  -When  it  talks  its  early  and 
native  tongue,  Christianity  tells  us  that  the  soul  is  the 
receptacle  of  the  Spirit.  It  tells  us  that  the  purpose 
of  revelation  is  fulfilled  when  it  has  prepared  the  soul, 
by  cleansing  it  of  the  principle  of  sin,  to  receive,  and 
rejoice  in,  and  live  out  the  Divine  essence  and  breath. 
It  invites  us  "  to  know  the  things  that  are  freely  given 
to  us  of  God."  It  shows  us  that  the  words  of  Jesus 
in  the  four  Gospels,  before  they  were  written  or  ut- 
tered, were  inward  assurances  made  to  his  soul  of 
the  reality  and  laws  of  the  spiritual  world,  of  the 
true  and  blessed  fife,  and  the  Eternal  love.  And  it 
would  lift  us  to  a  state  of  heart  in  which  we  shall  see 
those  words  loosened  again  into  light.     It  would  not 


MR.  ki2s^g's  lecture.  337 

only  make  us  believe  in  the  faith  of  Jesus,  but  by  a 
faith  kindred  with  his.  It  would  have  us  stand  on 
the  other  side  of  the  New  Testament,  in  the  light  of 
the  spirit  that  pours  through  its  letters  and  pages,  that 
we  may  see  the  book  to  be  far  less  than  the  rays  of 
which  its  chapters  are  the  media. 

The  vital  reception  of  Christianity,  therefore,  in  its 
highest  power  —  a  power  kindred  with  that  which 
thrilled  St.  Paul  —  is  shown  in  the  soul's  experience 
of  the  nearness  and  friendship  of  the  Infinite  Spirit. 
When  a  man  comes  to  the  knowledge  that  God  is 
not  far  off,  but  nearer  to  his  soul  than  He  can  be  to 
the  material  world;  when  he  learns  that  He  is  not 
hostile  but  cordial,  that  His  frown  when  the  heart  is 
alien  is  the  highest  mercy  and  His  wrath  is  gi'ace ; 
when  he  sees  that  distance  from  this  Paternal  love  in 
the  choice  of  evil  is  slavery,  and  wretchedness,  and 
spiritual  death,  and,  with  a  faith  that  purifies  and  jus- 
tifies at  once,  pledges  himself  to  the  Divine  sanctity 
and  compassion  for  all  service  and  trust ;  when  in  the 
fulfilment  of  that  great  vow  he  lives  in  a  deepening 
reverence  for  justice,  a  regard  for  truth  that  grows 
ever  more  devout,  a  sensitive  recoil  from  evil,  and 
above  all  a  love  that  pours  blessings  and  a  sweet 
atmosphere  of  charity  into  society ;  when  still  further, 
feeling  that  God  by  His  indwelling  Spirit  is  the  sub- 
stance and  support  of  his  dearest  life,  the  man  sees 
the  whole  world  illumined,  so  that  the  Eternal  shines 

29 


338  PITTS-STREET    CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

everywhere  through  the  temporal,  and  nature  is  only 
the  vesture  or  language  of  Sph'it,  and  nothing  is  so 
certain  as  God's  thought  and  providence  in  all  things; 
and  when  such  sense  of  the  Infinite  and  such  vision 
prompt  and  nourish  humility  and  prayerfulness  in  the 
heart,  and  life  becomes  a  sacrifice  of  thanksgiving, 
and  a  peace  which  death  does  not  threaten  and  wIiIcjI 
sorrow  cannot  break  broods  in  the  sanctuaries  of  ilie 
soul,  —  then  there  is  an  echo  in  our  century  to  the 
experience  of  Paul  who  found  the  supreme  privilege 
and  bliss  of  his  faith  in  Jesus  in  the  spring  which  it 
stimulated  him  to  make  from  the  earth  and  its  darl:- 
ness,  and  the  law  and  its  bondage,  into  the  light  and 
the  arms  of  Infinite  Grace. 

There  are  very  few  who  reach  guch  a  state  as  this. 
But  we  all  need  it  to  answer  the  end  of  our  being, 
and  to  satisfy  the  deepest  thirst  of  an  awakened  moral 
nature.  We  were  all  born  from  the  Eternal  life.  And 
we  receive  our  inheritance  only  when  we  begin  con- 
sciously, and  by  consecration,  to  draw  our  innermost 
life  from  God.  We  feed  on  husks,  we  live  in  shad- 
ows, we  drink  from  no  undrainable  fountains,  until 
the  immortal  principle  is  so  far  stimulated  by  the 
Divine  quickening,  that  the  germ  and  promise  of  such 
an  experience  of  the  infinite  life  and  acceptance  is  in 
the  soul. 

And  it  matters  not  how  the  nature  acquires  that 
quickening.    It  matters  not  by  what  immediate  agency 


339 


we  are  borne  up  into  a  consecrated  state,  and  the 
vision  of  Divine  things,  and  the  joy  of  the  Spirit.  It 
may  be  by  the  slow  intermixing  of  grace,  in  domestic 
education.  It  may  be,  in  adult  years,  by  deepening 
experience  of  unrest  in  the  satisfactions  which  the 
world  gives  when  the  forces  of  life  are  prosperous.  It 
may  be  by  the  gnawing  sense  of  bondage  in  corrupt 
habits.  It  may  be  by  the  torment  bubbling  up  through 
memory  from  some  crime.  It  may  be  by  the  pain  of 
bereaved  affections.  Meditation  on  the  swiftness,  the 
shadows,  and  the  mysteries  of  existence  here,  may 
impel  the  heart  to  it.  Or  some  reading  of  the  New 
Testament,  when  the  letter,  instead  of  encrusting  the 
truth,  blazes  with  immeasurable  meaning,  may  drive 
the  soul  to  it.  Or  the  study  of  some  devoted  man's 
biography,  or  the  hearing  of  some  awakening  religious 
eloquence,  may  supply  the  last  stimulant  for  which 
the  spirit  waited.  Methods  are  innumerable.  Meth- 
ods are  indifferent.  T©  get  the  soul  aroused,  to  get 
the  will  polarized  by  the  currents  of  heaven,  to  get 
selfishness  smitten  from  conscious  or  unconscious  con- 
trol of  the  heart,  and  love  installed  there  as  the  vivify- 
ing force,  to  get  the  man  on  the  side  of  truth,  an 
organ  of  justice,  a  helper  of  the  oppressed,  a  channel 
of  charity,  a  pillar  of  righteousness,  a  child  of  God  in 
the  dedication  of  his  powers,  and  a  direct  recipient  of 
the  divine  forgiveness,  light  and  favor,  by  the  uncover- 
ing of  his  once  shrouded  soul  to  the  breath  and  beams 


340  PITTS-STREET  CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

of  the  Spirit,  —  this  is  what  is  needed ;  this,  however 
it  be  wrought,  is  what  Christ  welcomes  and  rejoices 
over  in  the  world  of  substance,  as  one  of  the  blessed 
sequences  of  his  ministry ;  this  is  a  vital  appropriation 
of  the  truth  and  grace  he  instituted ;  this  is  a  modern 
victory  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

Now,  when  we  see  that  spiritual  Christianity  is 
manifest  in  a  life  of  freely  consecrated  service  to  the 
Almighty  Father,  whose  character  was  revealed 
through  Christ,  and  whose  spirit  struggles  with  every 
soul,  we  must  see  that  the  quickening  power  of  it  is 
not  indissolubly  involved  with  any  of  the  dogmas  that 
divide  and  classify  Christendom.  A  great  many  per- 
sons seem  to  believe  that  a  conviction  of  the  separate 
personality  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  essential  to  a  recep- 
tion of  it.  And  it  is  no  offence  against  charity  to  say 
that  a  large  portion  of  the  religious  teachers  in  the 
Protestant  world  would  look  with  suspicion  upon  any 
statement  of  a  Christian  faith  and  experience  that  is 
not  moulded  in  the  stereotyped  vocabulary  of  the 
"  Evangelical "  metaphysics  of  redemption.  The  life, 
however  devout  and  consciously  embosomed  in  the 
Infinite  Spirit,  is  felt  to  be  spurious  if  it  is  not  coined 
into  verbal  expression  out  of  their  pinched  glossary  of 
grace.  As  it  is  said  that  a  prominent  preacher  of  an 
antagonistic  sect  pronounced  one  of  the  most  devoted 
men  whom  the  Unitarian  Church  has  nurtured  —  now 
gone  to  his  reward  —  "the  best  counterfeit  of  a  Chris- 


341 

tian  that  was  ever  seen."  We  all  need  to  see  that  the 
lexicon  of  the  spirit  is  a  polyglot,  and  of  marvellous 
compass,  too.  All  the  creeds,  broken  up  into  words 
and  distributed,  would  not  make  a  tithe  of  its  ver- 
nacular. 

In  its  first  movement  in  Christian  history  the  Spi- 
rit was  unfettered  by  creeds  in  the  modern  sense.  St. 
Paul  had  no  theology,  according  to  our  use  of  that 
term,  and  no  literature,  to  impose  as  law  for  the 
Church  and  as  the  channel  of  grace  in  the  future  of 
Christendom.  He  struggled  with  all  his  fervor  to  get 
the  idea  of  a  free  and  common  communication  of  the 
Divine  Spirit  to  all  races,  through  a  risen  head  of  our 
humanity,  enthroned  over  the  whole  Christian  mind 
as  its  Only  mental  creed  and  bond.  What  we  call  his 
theology  was  mostly  his  interpretation  of  the  religious 
records  and  movements  of  the  past, —  and  that  for  an 
immediate,  pressing  and  temporary  issue.  He  strove 
to  prove  to  the  Jewish  half  of  the  church  that,  out  of 
their  own  documents,  they  were  condemned  for  ex- 
clusiveness  in  denying  the  equal  interest  in  all  nations 
by  the  plan  of  Infinite  Providence  ;  that  their  own 
historic  books  and  covenants  hinted  and  forecast  a 
grace  to  be  manifested,  on  terms  of  faith,  and  not  of 
blood,  to  evefy  nation.  When  this  opposition  on  the 
pnrt  of  the  Jews  and  Jewish  converts  was  once  re- 
moved as  a  practical, embarrassment  of  the  broad  and 
simple  organization  of  Christendom  into  one  moral 

29* 


342  PITTS-STREET  CHAPEL  LECTURES. 

body,  he  would  leave  the  Church  in  the  open  day  of 
the  Divine  Spirit.  The  most  of  the  book  of  Romans 
was  aimed  as  a  practical  blow  at  the  Pharisaic  creed 
and  tradition  within  the  Church ;  for  that  stood  in 
the  Way  of  the  willingness  to  acknowledge  the  free 
dispensation  of  God's  grace  and  breath  to  every  man, 
Gentile  as  well  as  Hebrew,  that  was  willing  to  re- 
nounce his  sins  and  believe  in  Eternal  love.  And  St. 
Paul  would  have  accounted  that  book  perfectly  suc- 
cessful in  its  purpose,  if  it  had  left  the  Church  with 
no  dogma  but  the  risen  Christ  as  the  representative 
and  channel  of  a  spirit  pouring  from  God  into  hu- 
manity to  renew,  consecrate,  and  illumine  every  nature 
that  would  open  itself  to  its  power. 

And  the  New  Testament  documents  taken  together 
do  not  present  any  shapen,  interlocked,  symmetrical 
system  of  Christianity  to  the  understanding.  They 
were  never  intended  to  fix  the  form,  and  to  configure 
infinite  truth  for  the  intellect  of  a  Church  that  was  to 
endure  thousands  of  years  in  an  advancing  civiliza- 
tion. It  is  very  difficult  for  any  scholar,  studying  the 
facts  without  prejudice,  to  make  the  philosophy  of  re- 
ligion by  St.  James  coincide  with  that  of  St.  Paul ;  or 
the  metaphysical  estimate  of  Jesus'  rank  in  St.  Mark 
equivalent  with  that  in  St.  John  ;  or  th#  conceptions 
of  the  church  in  the  Apocalypse  and  in  Galatians 
identical.  We  do  not  get  the  light  of  theological 
science  in  equal  clearness,  or  in  harmonious  hues,  from 


MR.  king's  lecture.  343 

those  fragments  of  the  primitive  thought  of  the  church. 
But  we  do  get  the  spirit  thorough  them  in  uniform  in- 
tensity. They  give  us  truth  of  the  eternal  order ; 
heat,  and  electric  currents,  and  charges  from  the  invis- 
ible world,  in  equal  jneasures.  Of  what  consequence 
is  it  how  adequately  or  how  accordantly  they  convey 
the  perceptions  of  the  infinite  reason  in  the  mysteries 
of  theology,  if  they  flood  us  with  the  deeper  truth  of 
the  infinite  essence  ;  if  they  are  batteries  for  shedding 
the  ^'powers  of  the  world  to  come  "  on  the  torpid  con- 
science, the  disloyal  or  flaccid  will,  the  corrupt  imagi- 
nation, the  withering  heart ;  if  they  make  us  feel  the 
holiness,  the  justice,  the  unsounded  charity  of  God  ; 
if  they  restore  the  proportions  of  things  to  our  moral 
vision,  reducing  this  world  to  a  speck  within  the  soul's 
world,  and  curtained  from  it  by  a  film  that  may  break 
for  us  to-morrow  ? 

Ah,  how  brutally  those  marvellous  records  have 
been  treated  under  our  theories  of  a  minute  and  infal- 
lible intellectual  inspiration  !  How  men  have  crushed 
and  cut  them  to  make  poetry,  and  precept,  and  vision, 
and  mystic  vagueness  of  utterance,  and  oriental  hyper- 
bole, and  hot  rhetoric  for  an  emergency,  and  well- 
weighed  judgments,  and  lyric  raptures,  fit  together  like 
the  puzzle-maps  of  wood  with  which  children  play, 
into  an  outlined  chart  of  eternal  wisdom,  consistent 
and  complete !  Is  it  not  more  reverent  and  wise  to 
look  at  those  chapters  as  fragmentary  scrolls  of  an 


3  1:4  PITTS-STREET   CnAPEL    LECTURES. 

inspiration  that  breathed  the  forces  and  not  the  science 
of  the  infinite  into  the  first  generation  of  Christendom? 
Shall  we  not  see  them  set  around  the  pure  splendor  of 
the  Spirit,  deeply  tinged  with  different  human  tempera- 
ments, as  types  of  the  diverse  genius  which  the  gospel 
has  sanctified  in  history  ?  Shall  we  not  let  them  show 
the  riches  of  its  light,  and  pour  it,  now  in  the  strong 
moral  colors  of  the  Synoptics,  now  in  the  paler  medita- 
tive tints  of  the  fourth  biography,  now  through  the  lit- 
erature of  faith  as  the  central  sentiment,  now  through 
the  portraiture  of  a  heroic  will,  now  through  an  un- 
folded experience  of  a  love  that  reclines  on  the  sunny 
bosom  of  infinite  tenderness,  now  through  the  rapt 
longing  and  expectation  of  the  melting  of  these  flimsy 
time-walls,  to  let  in  the  fierce  justice  and  final  peace 
of  the  millennial  day  ? 

Are  we  told  that  these  records  are  all  in  unison, 
since  they  all  make  Christ  the  centre  of  their  theology, 
and  the  channel  of  the  highest  truth  and  mercy  ?  So 
they  do.  But  shall  we  not  see  through  what  different 
visions  of  his  outline  and  majesty  the  spirit  streamed 
upon  them?  There  is  the  Prophet- Christ  of  Mat- 
thew; the  Logos-Christ  of  John;  the  Ethnic  and  Me- 
diatorial Christ  of  Paul ;  the  Judicial  Christ  of  James  ; 
the  Priestly  Christ  of  the  Hebrews;  the  administrative 
and  imperial  Christ  of  P^evelations,  with  eyes  as  a  flame 
of  fire,  and  seven  stars  in  his  right  hand.  Througli 
these  conceptions  of  the   Son  of  Man,  equally  vivid, 


MR.  king's  lecture.  345 

but  drawn  on  unequal  scales  of  official  grandeur,  and 
variously  hued,  the^  redeeming  truth  gushed  into  the 
souls  of  the  earliest  teachers  of  Christendom,  and  then 
into  the  church.  It  was  prophetic  thus  of  the  fulness 
of  nourishment  in  Christianity  for  all  temperaments, 
and  the  freedom  to  be  granted  to  all  future  ages  in 
conceiving  of  the  proportions  of  Christ  as  the  channel 
of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

And  we  have  a  right  to  say  now,  in  the  interest  of 
vital  Christianity,  that  all  theories  of  Christ's  rank 
and  office,  and  all  catechism  and  creeds,  are  indifferent 
to  the  Spirit,  so  far  as  they  belong  to  the  speculative 
science  of  the  Infinite,  or  to  the  philosophical  inter- 
pretation of  Scripture.  This  is  the  great  question: 
how  near  is  the  man  to  the  Spirit  of  God  ?  how  closely 
does  the  Christ  he  believes  in  bring  him  to  the  Infinite? 
how  richly  does  he  interpret  to  him  the  character  of 
the  Almighty  —  his  equity,  his  providence,  his  interest 
in  righteousness,  his  love  ?  It  is  ivorking-  truth,  truth 
for  redemption,  truth  that  cleanses  the  passions,  truth 
that  burns  the  clouded  conscience,  truth  that  wrenches 
the  cowardly  will,  truth  that  knocks  at  the  heart  with 
sweet  and  serious  pleading,  in  which  the  spirit  hides. 
A  notional  Trinity  or  a  notional  Unity  it  cares  not 
for,  any  more  than  it  cares  for  your  conception  of  how 
many  strata  are  in  the  surface  of  the  globe,  or  how 
the  sun's  light  is  connected  with  his  substance. 

When  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  represents  to  you, 


346  PITTS-STREET  CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

and  brings  to  a  focus  upon  your  soul,  the  truths  that 
God  is  the  substance  and  patron  of  all  law  and  right- 
eousness, that  He  is  unspeakably  hostile  to  all  evil, 
that  He  has  come  into  history  through  a  perfect  form 
of  our  humanity  to  break  the  power  of  evil,  and  that 
His  spirit  is  now  the  quickening  impulse  of  all  private 
excellence  and  public  good,  —  you  believe  in  a  religion 
essentially  true,  a  perfect  religion.  And  if  you  feel 
that  a  change  in  that  conception  of  the  Infinite  to  a 
belief  in  the  Unity  of  the  divine  nature  would  make 
God  more  distant,  and  the  authority  of  Christianity 
less  potent,  and  its  grace  more  pallid,  and  the  earth  a 
less  serious  and  sacred  spot  in  immensity,  then,  al- 
though I  were  sure  that  the  statement  of  the  divine 
Unity  is  true,  I  should  *pray  heaven  that  you  might 
not  be  brought  to  see  it ;  for  you  would  only  gain  a 
truth  of  arithmetic,  and  might  lose  a  truth  of  life. 
But  if  you  find  that  your  Unitarian  neighbor  feels  the 
Spirit  of  God  no  less  near,  and  His  law  no  less  sacred, 
and  His  love  no  less  deep,  and  Christianity  no  less 
manifestly  a  movement  of  grace,  through  his  concep- 
tion of  Christ;  and  if  his  life  is  no  less  consecrated, 
and  pours  out  no  less  of  integrity,  and  bounty,  and 
filial  fragrance,  do  you  not  see  that  the  Spirit  passes 
through  his  dogma  to  his  heart,  just  as  it  has  through 
yours  ? 

There  may  be  fifty  doctrines  of  the  Spirit ;  as  there 
may  be  fifty  theories  of  the  light,  and  of  how  it  is  gene- 


MR.  king's  lecture.  347 

rated  from  the  sun,  and  of  how  its  beam  is  stranded, 
and  of  how  fast  it  travels  to  the  earth,  and  of  how  it 
gains  entrance  to  the  human  eye.  There  is  only  one 
science  of  the  spirit ;  as  there  is  only  one  science,  or 
accurate  conception  of  the  origin,  structure,  speed  and 
office  of  the  sunshine.  But  the  fact  of  the  presence  of 
the  light,  of  its  institution  in  this  world,  through  the 
sun,  by  providential  goodness,  and  of  the  equal  de- 
pendence of  every  body  upon  it  for  sight  and  enjoy- 
ment, are  not  altered  by  the  theories  which  human 
beings  hold.  We  all  live  in  the  vast  natural  church 
of  light,  Yv^hether  we  have  Newton's  conception,  or 
Young's  conception,  or  Goethe's  conception  of  its  cause 
and  composition ;  nay,  whether  or  not  we  have  cared 
to  work  out  any  conception  of  these.  And  the  man 
with  the  inadequate  theory,  or  the  false  theory,  or  no 
theory,  sees  just  as  well  as  the  man  with  the  true  one, 
if  he  conforms  to  the  practical  laws  of  vision. 

It  is  the  spiritual  truth  which  looks  through  the 
creed  that  is  the  all-important  element  so  far  as  the 
person  is  concerned.  Ah,  v  e  cannot  tell  by  the  writ- 
ten confession  what  the  vital  characteristics  of  the 
man's  faith  or  of  his  belief  are.  St.  Paul  determined 
to  know  no  other  formula  than  the  Cross  of  Christ. 
But  what  did  it  mean  to  him  ?  We  have  seen  that  it 
meant  the  breaking  out  of  divine  love  towards  all 
mankind;  it  meant  the  equal  spiritual  rights  of  all 
races ;  it  meant  a  perfect  moral  providence ;  it  meant 


348  PITTS-STREET  CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

the  condemnation  of  Pharisaism  as  high  treason 
against  humanity ;  it  meant  the  abolition  of  all  cove- 
nant-grace ;  it  meant  that  humility,  charity,  self-sacri- 
fice, is  the  law  of  the  moral  universe ;  it  meant  that 
men  need  no  more  pine  here  as  prisoners,  but  could 
burst  through  faith  "  into  the  air  of  that  supernatural 
life  which  God  lives  eternally."  In  a  word,  it  meant 
just  the  opposite  of  the  system  into  which  the  old 
school  Calvinism  has  petrified  the  book  of  Romans. 
The  cross  of  Christ  is  thus  preached  now  in  the  Trini- 
tarian Church  by  men  like  Bushnell,  and  Kingsley, 
and  Maurice,  and  Robertson,  and  Stanley,  and  is  inter- 
preted thus  by  theologians  like  Jowett,  and  scholars 
like  Bunsen ;  and  it  is  the  sign  of  the  purest  faith  and 
most  adequate  conception  of  Christianity  in  our  time. 
Other  men  preach  the  cross  of  Christ,  and  it  means 
horror  more  than  inspiration,  wrath  more  than  grace, 
doom  more  than  deliverance,  partiality  instead  of  uni- 
versality, Infinite  hatred  more  than  pity ;  for  the  little 
light  that  leaks  through  it  into  history  from  the  heart 
of  Christ,  and  falls  upon  the  sparse  elect,  only  relieves 
the  black  background  of  Omnipotent  law,  and  enables 
us  to  take  the  awful  census  of  the  damned. 

We  repeat  that  it  is  the  spiritual  expression  that 
steals  through  our  dogma,  the  fulness  with  which  it 
interprets  the  holy  character  and  searching  influence 
of  God,  the  nearness  it  makes  us  feel  of  the  Eternal 
world  to  our  world,  and  not  simply  its  logical  accuracy, 


MR.  king's  lecture.  310 

'cliat  attests  the  vital  presence  of  the  Spirit  in  it.  The 
soul  is  reached  religiously  by  methods  of  art,  rather 
than  by  methods  of  science.  It  is  the  amount  of  quick- 
ening truth  with  which  our  creed  is  translucent  that 
helps  us, — just  as  it  is  the  sweetness  and  depth  of 
saintly  beauty,  and  not  the  literal,  historic,  or  possible 
verity  of  the  person  or  the  scene,  that  moves  us  in  one 
of  Raffaelle's  groups,  and  advances  art.  If  the  doctrine 
of  an  evil  nature  makes  you  feel  more  intensely  the 
wrong,  wretchedness,  and  peril  of  sin,  and  makes  you 
a  watchful  and  prayerful  ^man,  you  are  practically 
nearer  to  the  truth  than  your  Unitarian  friend  who 
denies  the  Church  doctrine  of  the  fall  of  Adam,  holds 
that  sin  is  a  personal  perversion  of  the  will,  and  has  no 
deep  consciousness  of  the  guilt  and  poverty  of  aliena- 
tion from  God.  He  holds,  I  should  say,  the  secular 
truth  of  the  case  ;  you  the  internal  and  essential  truth. 
But  with  his  convictions,  even  though  they  be  errone- 
ous, if  he  is  no  less  sensitive  than  you  to  a  violation 
of  truth,  to  a  stain  on  his  integrity,  to  passing  an  un- 
charitable judgment,  or  circulating  a  slander,  or  bolster- 
ing iniquity  by  a  vote,  or  being  found  in  any  way  hos- 
tile to  God,  and  keeps  his  soul  open  to  the  divine  life 
for  purification  and  strength,  —  both  of  you  have  the 
essential  truth.  The  Spirit  is  equally  near  you.  It  uses 
your  dogma  with  equal  readiness,  and  with  indiffer- 
ence to  its  philosophic  validity  or  weakness. 

I  do  not  argue  that  truth  of  creed  is  unimportant 

30 


350  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

I  do  not  say  that  a  symmetrical  and  pure  theology, 
an  adequate  intellectual  interpretation  of  the  office 
of  Christ  and  the  meaning  of  Christianity,  is  not  a 
most  desirable  thing.  But  I  say  that  unless  a  man 
values  and  uses  his  conception  of  Christ,  or  his  creed, 
as  a  medium  of  the  Spirit,  as  a  lens  to  condense  the 
radiance  of  the  everlasting  world  upon  his  soul,  ^per- 
fect surface-belief  is  of  no  account.  Some  creeds 
have  truth  and  little  power;  others  have  pov/er  and 
very  little  truth.  The  men  of  science  tell  us  now 
that  there  is  a  very  subtle  chemical  energy  in  the  sun- 
ray —  as  it  were  the  soul  of  it — which  is  different 
from  its  light-giving  and  its  heating  properties.  Cer- 
tain glasses  stained  dark-blue  will  admit  scarcely  any 
light,  and  yet  will  offer  no  interruption  to  the  passage 
of  this  mysterious  force.  On  the  contrary  a  yellow 
glass,  which  transmits  almost  undiminished  the  inten- 
sity of  the  light,  will  completely  cut  off  this  chemical 
principle,  whatever  it  be.  So  we  cannot  fail  to  see 
how  some  head-creeds  of  darkest  blue,  that  one  would 
think  must  make  the  universe  dismal  and  life  a  bitter 
bondage,  will  transmit  the  vital  effluence  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  many  a  believer's  heart.  While  other  people 
may  diffuse  and  live  in  the  full  intellectual  radiance  of 
a  true  philosophy  of  the  Gospel,  and  receive  through 
it  nothing  of  that  thrilling  energy  which  is  twisted 
in  with  the  pure  light  of  Eternity,  and  in  which  the 
Gospel   attests   its   power.      So   that  the   important 


MR.  king's  lecture.  351 

question  is,  not  what  we  think  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  but 
what  the  Spirit  thinks  of  us,  and  of  4he  truth  we 
have  worked  into  form.  Does  God  use  it  for  his 
regenerative  purposes  ?  Does  He  make  it  the  me- 
dium of  His  most  secret  and  quickening  grace  ? 

Of  course,  we  ought  to  have  both  pure  light  and 
vital  power.  The  success  of  Christianity  as  a  general 
force,  is  obstructed  sadly,  I  believe,  by  the  false  inter- 
pretations of  Scripture,  the  harsh  metaphysics  of  God 
and  his  government,  and  the  distorted  philosophy  of 
the  spiritual  world  and  of  life,  that  are  preached  in 
connection  with  it.  There  are  thousands  within  the 
fold  of  the  Trinitarian  organizations  who  are  regener- 
ated by  the  spirit  that  finds  its  way  through  their  bit- 
terest formulas.  The  intellectual  grimness  of  the  for- 
mulas is  pushed  into  the  background  for  them.  But 
Vve  ought  not  to  overlook  the  fact  that  other  thousands 
are  repelled  from  religion,  and  are  either  made  more 
worldly,  or  are  driven  out  into  a  cold  natural  goodness, 
by  the  intellectual  extravagances  of  utter  depravity, 
and  a  selfish  Infinite,  and  an  arbitrary  doom  of  eternal 
punishment  for  a  single  sin,  which  the  creeds  exhibit 
to  their  reason,  and  which  will  stand  out  in  the  fore- 
ground. For  every  person  that  will  be  turned  to  a 
reverent  and  devoted  life  by  the  revival  that  so  many 
good  men  in  the  sacrificial  church  are  now  rejoicing 
over,  it  is  doubtless  true  that  two  at  least  have  been 
alienated  from  real  Christianity  by  its  distorted  the- 


352  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

ology.  Many  of  these  have  been  restored,  wholly  or 
in  measure,  tlirough  the  agency  of  such  intellectual 
conceptions  of  life,  and  Jesus,  and  the  Almighty 
Fathei",  as  Channing  preached.  We  should  bear  this 
in  mind  when  we  are  taking  into  account  the  wide  re- 
lations of  the  Church  to  society,  and  when  the  fervors 
of  the  prominent  Trinitarian  sects  are  contrasted  com- 
placently with  the  coldness  of  the  Liberal  Christian 
administration  of  religion. 

If  we  could  have  the  Orthodox  earnestness  poured 
through  a  corrected  scheme  of  doctrine,  —  a  scheme 
that  allows  more  scope  for  the  influence  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  than  the  earlier  English  Unitarianism  did,  and 
which  rises  to  the  high  temperature  of  St.  Paul's  feel- 
ing as  to  its  striving,  convincing,  irradiating,  sweeten- 
ing presence ;  a  doctrine  fusing  the  essential  concep- 
tions of  Chalmers,  Marteneau  and  Arnold, —  we  should 
have  a  revival  of  religion  whose  statistics  could  not  be 
grouped  by  hundreds.  The  heart  of  the  nation  would 
respond  to  it  like  the  verdure  of  May  after  April  rain. 

And  now  it  is  time  to  ask  what  relation  Christianity, 
considered  as  the  diffusive  agency  of  the  Divine  Spirit, 
bears  to  institutions.  Some  men  cannot  disconnect  — 
their  theory  will  not  allow  them  to  disconnect — the 
religion  of  Jesus  from  a  priestly  order  of  men,  a  sys- 
tem of  government,  rituals  in  churches,  and  visible 
lines  of  division  between  a  party  with  Christian 
badges  on  them,  and  the  unregeuerate  mass  of  the 


353 

world.  This  conception  is  wrought  out  in  full  pro- 
portions in  the  Catholic  theory  of  a  separate  spiritual 
polity  in  civilization. 

When  a  Catholic  talks  with  you  about  the  Church 
of  Christ  as  a  social  power,  he  means  nothing  more, 
and  he  cannot  conceive  how  anything  else  can  be 
meant  by  it,  than  the  miraculous  diffusion  of  Di- 
vine grace  through  Pope,  Bishops,  Decrees,  Clergy, 
Sacraments,  to  those  people  who  believe  in  Pope,  and 
Clergy,  and  Sacraments,  and  who  go  to  them  regularly 
for  help  and  nutriment.  The  visible  organization  of 
the  Church  is,  to  the  devout  Catholic,  the  immense 
and  divine-built  battery  for  the  spiritual  electricity  of 
heaven.  And  no  one  can  receive  a  stream  or  spark 
of  it,  until  he  visibly  joins  hands  with  the  faithful 
around  the  Altar,  and  obtains  it  from  the  magical 
touch  of  the  Priest. 

Most  of  the  Protestant  sects,  though  their  theories 
are  far  less  imposing  than  this  one  of  the  Roman  hie- 
rarchy, still  cling  to  the  idea  —  some  with  greater,  some 
with  less  fulness  of  proportion  in  theii'  schemes  —  that 
Christianity  has  some  material  channels  which  are 
divinely  instituted  (and  so  as  precious  as  the  religion 
itself)  through  which  its  saving  virtue  pours.  The 
Church  of  Christ  to  them  is  still,  in  some  sense,  a  Cor- 
poration. And  a  man  in  becoming  a  part  of  it  must 
pass  visibly,  by  some  act  or  profession  before  men, 
from  the  side  of  the  world  where  there  is  no  grace,  to 

30* 


354  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

the  ecclesiastical  side  where  help  is  ready  for  him,  if 
he  fulfils  the  conditions  on  which  it  is  offered. 

Over  these  conceptions  of  Christianity  must  be  set 
such  an  estimate  of  institutions  as  will  fit  the  fact  that 
the  gospel  of  Christ  has  been  put  into  society  as  an  all- 
penetrating  force  of  social  redemption.  See  how  Jesus 
always  interpreted  the  action  and  the  future  of  the  re- 
generative power  concentrated  in  him  through  imagery 
drawn  from  the  most  free  and  diffusive  energies  in  na- 
ture. That  spirit  that  vivifies  the  world,  moves  like 
the  wind,  —  no  more  to  be  included  within  the  bounda- 
ries of  sect  and  sacrament,  than  the  wind  can  be  en- 
compassed by  cathedrals  and  council-domes.  Again, 
the  forces  of  his  truth  are  seeds,  scattered  not  over  a 
few  ecclesiastical  acres,  but  over  the  field  of  the  world, 
to  be  nourished  by  the  unsectarian  light  and  rain.  And 
"the  kingdom  of  God  is  within  you,"  so  that  the  power 
of  it  in  the  world  is  exactly  equal  to  the  truth,  and  the 
sweetness,  and  the  aspiration,  and  the  devotion  to  God 
and  man,  that  hide  as  qualities  in  human  bosoms,  and 
stream  as  influence  from  them  into  society.  Still  fur- 
ther, "  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  leaven  which  a 
woman  took  and  hid  in  three  measures  of  meal."  It 
works  not  from  an  organized,  visible,  and  aggressive 
centre,  but  as  an  interpenetrating,  vivifying  force.  You 
cannot  mechanically  separate  the  vitality  from  the  dead 
resistance.  It  works  by  secret  agency  to  make  eacl* 
particle  alive,  and  a  new  germ  of  life. 


355 

The  Christianity  of  the  Spirit,  therefore,  is  the  sum 
of  all  the  redeeming  life-forces  in  our  civilization. 
Nothing  less  than  all  the  arteries  of  society  are  its 
ducts*  Since  the  day  of  Pentecost  the  renovating 
forces  of  history  are  its  vesture.  Just  as  the  quicken- 
ing element  of  the  Gospel  is  not  dogma,  and  will  not 
be  imprisoned  in  dogma,  but  will  look  through  it  and 
stream  through  it  even  when  it  is  unsymmetrical  and 
ungracious,  —  so  it  is  not  an  ecclesiastical  institution, 
and  will  not  be  imprisoned  in  any  or  all  of  them.  But 
it  uses  them  all  for  its  purposes  :  Mediaeval,  Episcopal, 
Presbyterian,  Methodist,  Moravian,  Congregational, 
Quaker,  and  countless  other  agencies  besides. 

For  social  worship  there  must  be,  of  course,  some 
special  rites,  and  order,  and  bonds  ;  and  those  in  which 
different  classes  of  believers  feel  most  free,  and  find 
most  joy,  are  best  for  them.  Yet  the  Spirit  is  not 
pledged  to  any  order  as  a  polity  for  Christendom. 
And  where  the  most  symmetrical  order  and  liturgy 
become  an  occasion  of  complacency,  and  pride,  and 
aristocratic  schism  of  the  heart  from  the  community 
of  believers,  the  polity  is  not  of  the  Spirit  at  all.  It  is 
an  encroachment  of  "  this  world,"  an  entrenchment  of 
the  "  natural  man  "  within  the  ar@a  that  is  supposed  to 
be  especially  consecrated  to  Christ.  Apostolical  suc- 
cession, for  instance,  is  no  more  possible  as  a  law  for 
the  Church  than  an  equivalent  theory  would  be  in  the 
world  of  Art.     Think  of  trying  to  institute  in  such  a 


356  PITTS-STREET  CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

way,  the  right  and  the  gift  of  teaching  beauty  I  Think 
of  a  hierarchical  pretension  in  the  artistic  world,  claim- 
ing that  only  the  students  upon  whom  Rafiaelle,  or 
Michael  Angelo,  or  Murillo,  or  E-ubens,  or  Reynolds, 
or  West,  or  Turner,  or  Allston,  had  laid  his  hands, 
were  rightfully  consecrated  and  equipped  to  paint,  and 
to  educate  the  taste  of  men  !  By  all  means  have  stud- 
ies, and  studios,,  and  thorough  intercourse  with  the 
master-pieces  of  ages.  But  leave  room  for  genius, ^ — its 
freedom,  its  new  methods,  and  its  fire.  And  do  not 
try  to  conduct  the  potent  and  volatile  essence  of  in- 
spiration which  flows  only  from  the  laying  on  of  God's 
hand,  along  the  fixed  methods  of  any  confederation. 

The  spirit  broods  over  society  to  vitalize  it,  and  not 
exclusively  over  the  church.  That  is  especially  the 
church  where  the  most  power  is  present.  Let  us  not 
think  that  the  Infinite  grace  has  followed  the  method 
for  distributing  His  Gospel,  which  men  have  adopted 
to  secure  a  supply  of  water  for  this  city  from  the 
neighboring  lake.  He  has  not  mechanically  laid 
water-pipes  of  altar,  ritual  and  liturgy,  to  transmit 
and  diffuse  it  in  unchanging  ways  to  every  soul.  His 
are  rather  the  methods  in  His  church,  by  which  the 
bounteous  rain  is  distributed  and  stored.  It  falls  on 
the  mountain  slopes;  it  collects  in  rills;  it  combines 
into  streams  and  rivers ;  it  hides  underground,  and 
bubbles  in  fountains.  Now  it  floods  all  its  channels; 
now  it  leaves  the  old  beds  to  cut  new  paths  for  its 


Mu.  king's  lecture.  357 

leaping  music ;  and  it  will  often  burst  up  in  fresh  dis- 
tricts to  gladden  the  ground  with  beauty. 

So  the  Spirit  has  not  shown  itself  partial  to  any 
organization  of  ecclesiastical  order.  It  leaves  the  old 
Catholic  corporation,  to  stimulate  the  world  through 
Luther  and  the  Reformers.  And  it  is  just  as  ready  to 
break  out  again  through  the  Catholic  forms,  and 
retreat  from  Protestant  ones,  when  any  branch  of  the 
elder  church  puts  itself  in  the  condition  to  invite  its 
grace,  and  the  new  church  prefers  to  live  on  memory, 
and  begins  to  be  proud,  formal,  and  cruel.  It  delights 
to  pour  itself  through  preaching  and  the  Sunday,  just 
to  the  extent  that  the  preacher  has  a  receptive  soul, 
and  the  people  have  hearing  hearts.  It  streams 
through  the  holiest  sacrament,  and  most  freely  when 
those  that  commune  offer  life  as  a  service  of  thanks- 
giving and  sacrifice  to  the  Infinite  love  in  the  spirit  of 
Christ,  and  ask  for  more  of  its  breath.  But  we  must 
not  forget  that  it  leaps  out  of  a  church  as  freely  as 
into  it.  It  makes  a  good  book  its  channel  rather  than 
a  proud  bishop,  though  the  book  be  written  by  an  un- 
professing  layman.  It  discharges  immeasurably  more 
of  its  essence  through  such  a  novel  a^  "  Little  Dorritt" 
than  through  such  volumes  as  Dr.  Breckinridge's 
"  Knowledge  of  God  objectively  consideied."  It  no 
more  acknowledges  a  religious  newspaper  as  its  organ 
than  a  secular  one,  if  it  is  not  humbly  edited,  and 
does  not  increase  the  sway  of  meekness  and  charity 


358  PITTS-STREET  CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

in  those  that  read  it,  —  a  very  severe  test  for  many  of 
them.  A  useless  and  juiceless  chm*ch-member,  ex- 
pending his  energies  and  prayers  on  his  own  salvation, 
adds  to  its  working  force  about  as  much  as  a  lump  of 
ice  serves  as  an  organ  of  heat,  or  a  piece  of  charcoal 
as  a  reflector  of  the  light.  It  moves  through  all  the 
efforts,  all  the  eloquence,  all  the  literature,  all  the 
homes,  all  the  charity  organizations,  all  the  laws,  all 
the  public  bounties,  that  are  interpreting  sweet  and 
serious  truth,  nourishing  goodness,  spreading  the 
sway  of  the  spirit  of  sacrifice,  banishing  injustice, 
making  the  world  less  selfish,  and  more  pious.  For 
these  are  hastening  the  true  Millennium,  when  all 
law,  all  government,  all  literature,  all  life  shall  be  pure 
and  reverent  and  charitable ;  and  when  society  shall 
be  organized  by  Christ's  spirit,  and  become  the  Church, 
and  thus  the  whole  lump  be  leavened. 

We  have  seen,  thus  far,  that  Christianity  was  the 
infusion  of  new  life  from  God  through  Jesus  Christ, 
and  the  pouring  of  His  spirit  into  humanity  as  a 
public  grace.  Its  first  medium  was  the  conception 
of  Jesus  in  his  risen  glory  as  the  representative  of  a 
redeemed  humanity,  the  mirror  of  the  Divine  love, 
and  the  diffusing  channel  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  to  all 
who  were  willing  by  direct  faith  in  the  Infinite  Father 
through  him,  to  begin  a  filial  life.  We  have  seen 
that  it  was  not  involved  with  any  metaphysics  of  the 
Heavenly  world,  or  of  depravity,  or  of  the  commer- 


MR.  king's  lecture.  359 

cial,  legal,  or  governmental  value  of  Christ's  suffer- 
ing, or  with  any  rigid  philosophical  system,  or  with 
any  ecclesiastical  institutions  and  polity  as  a  final 
law  for  Christendom.  We  have  seen  that  Christian- 
ity, in  its  inmost  and  its  primal  power,  is  manifest 
in  any  man,  whatever  his  belief,  who  feels  the  Divine 
Spirit  as  his  light  and  joy,  and  serves  and  worships 
God,  through  the  gracious  coloring  which  the  char- 
acter of  Jesus  has  cast  upon  the  All-perfect  One, 
in  consecrated  fidelity  and  trust,  and  as  a  lover  of  his 
kind. 

Here,  therefore,  we  have  something  to  say  upon 
the  development  of  the  life  and  thought  of  Christen- 
dom and  the  meaning  and  usefulness  of  sects.  The 
Church  was  left  unhampered  by  creeds  from  the  pen 
of  Jesus,  or  of  Apostles,  to  work  out  its  science  of 
theology  freely,  —  as  all  science  is  worked  out  through 
error,  through  cumulative  effort,  and  through  failure,  — 
and  to  add  to  the  riches  of  its  vital  literature  by 
a  manifold  and  ever  multiplying  experience.  We 
are  in  the  era  of  the  Spirit,  and  the  Church  is  to- 
day under  the  pressure  and  guidance  of  the  Holy 
Ghost. 

The  theology  which  the  church  has  as  yet  amassed, 
is  not  to  be  accounted  specially  venerable-  and  author- 
itative by  reason  of  age  and  rescription.  For  the 
intellect  of  the  race  has  not,  until  recently,  had  favor- 
able conditions  to  apply  itself  powerfully  and  without 


360  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL   LECTUKES. 

prejudice  to  the  science  of  the  Divine  mind,  of  Ihe 
soal,  and  of  the  relations  of  the  eternal  world  to  time. 
Most  of  the  leading  tenets  of  our  popular  theology  in 
their  intellectual  shape  belong  to  the  darker  ages  of 
Christian  history.  The  conception  of  the  Trinity  was 
not  perfected  till  many  generations  after  the  Apostles, 
when  the  shadow  was  stealing  over  ancient  civiliza- 
tion that  was  to  produce  a  full  eclipse.  And  it  was 
not  until  the  close  of  the  eleventh  century  that  our 
"  evangelical "  doctrine  of  the  atonement  was  clearly 
stated  by  Anselm,  Bishop  of  Canterbury.  These  are 
the  vital  centres  of  the  popular  faith.  What  has 
grown  up  thus  in  time,  and  without  satisfying  the  in- 
tellect of  universal  Christendom,  (for  the  mind  of  the 
church  has  been  so  fretted  and  tormented  by  those 
dogmas  that  it  does  not  lie  long  at  ease  on  any  shap- 
ing of  them)  may  perish  in  time.  Christendom  is 
young.  Look  forward  a  hundred  centuries,  and  see 
if  you  can  imagine  that  the  intellect  of  the  Church 
will  then  be  tethered  to  the  metaphysics  of  religion 
shaped  before  modern  science  and  philosophy  and 
poetry  were  born.  We  cannot  tell  yet  what  the  theol- 
ogy of  Christendom  is  to  be.  The  sects  that  have 
arisen  thus  far  have  each  helped,  through  their  difler- 
ences,  to  accumulate  evidence,  by  appearing  as  wit- 
nesses or  counsel  in  the  court  of  history  for  some 
oppressed  or  slighted  truth. 

But  the  sects  have  done  a  greater  service  by  trhow 


MR.  king's  lecture.  36 i 

ing  us,  with  more  and  more  varied  and  copious  illus- 
tration, how  deep  and  rich,  how  sweet  and  sublime,  is 
spiritual  Christianity  itself,  when  it  issues  in  Jts  appro- 
priate literature  of  sentiment  and  life.  Lord  Bacon 
spoke  of  the  ample  and  graceful  classic  mythology  as 
the  airs  of  earlier  ages  breathed  into  the  trumpets  and 
pipes  of  the  Grecians.  So  Christianity,  of  which  the 
Spii'it  struck  the  key-notes  in  the  souls  of  Apostles  in 
Palestine,  has  been  widening  in  variation  and  deepen- 
ing in  harmony  with  all  the  consecrated  temperaments 
that  have  risen  in  the  ages  thus  far  to  articulate  its 
airs.  We  must  pierce  below  the  creed-symbols  of  each 
party  in  Christian  history,  and  find  the  justification 
and  necessity  of  its  existence  in  the  fresh  quality  ol  its 
sentiment,  or  the  new  movement  or  modulation  by  wliich 
it  has  enriched  the  compass  of  the  symphony  of  grace. 
Think  of  the  range  of  the  literature  of  Christian  de- 
voutness  and  insight.  It  runs  from  the  "  Shepherd 
of  Hermas  "  and  the  prayers  of  the  earliest  liturgies, 
touching  different  keys  in  different  centuries  and  sects, 
till  it  includes  now  Augustine's  Communion  with  God, 
a  Kempis'  Imitation  of  Christ,  Tauler's  Sermons,  the 
Meditations  of  Archbishop  Leighton  and  Bishop  Hall, 
Fenelon's  Letters,  Taylor's  Holy  Living  and  Dying, 
Baxter's  Saints'  Rest,  Swedenborg's  Divine  Love  and 
Wisdom,  Edward's  sweet  thoughts  of  Christ,  Wes- 
leyan  hymns,  Martineau's  Endeavours  after  the  Chris- 
tian Life,  Theodore  Parker's  Ten  Sermons,  and  New- 
81 


362  PITTS-STREET   CHAPEL    LECTURES. 

man  on  the  Soul.  That  belongs  to  essential  Christi- 
anity, spiritual  Christianity,  which  issues  in  the  quick- 
ening power  of  these  books,  and  gleams  out  in  the 
life  of  all  consecrated  men,  whether  they  be  men  of 
action,  of  suffering,  or  of  prayer.  All  are  necessary 
to  enable  us  to  appreciate  Christianity.  For  it  is 
continually  unfolding  itself  in  history.  And  the  Spirit 
needs  every  aperture  of  race,  and  temperament,  and 
culture,  to  work  out  fully  the  mighty  theme  whose 
notes  are  printed  in  the  first  Scriptures  of  the  church. 
The  growth  of  the  church  as  the  interpreter  of 
Christianity  through  the  ages  thus  far  seems  to  me  the 
gradual  building  of  a  majestic  organ.  The  final  justi- 
fication of  each  sect  is  found  when  we  can  regard .  it 
as  a  new  stop,  or  class  of  pipes,  with  an  original  con- 
stitution and  quality,  to  pour  out  some  essential  senti- 
ment with  nobler  volume,  or  richer  melody,  in  response 
to  the  glory  of  God.  It  is  the  Spirit  that  struggles 
and  sings  through  all.  Some  articulate,  perhaps,  the 
more  necessary,  others  the  more  ornamental  phrasings 
of  everlasting  truth.  No  sect  alone  can  yield  the  full- 
proportioned  music.  The  Calvinistic  creed  may  not 
agree  with  the  intellectual  truth  of  things.  Possibly 
no  consecutive  or  selected  propositions  of  it  will.  But 
there  is  a  severity  and  stringency  in  the  law  of  God 
and  its  hold  upon  us,  that  justifies  the  solemn  and 
often  hoarse  sub-bass  which  we  catch  predominantly 
from  the  Calvinistic  pipes.     While  we  are  under  sin, 


MR.  king's  lecture.  3G3 

such  is  the  ground-tone  of  the  truth  of  things.  If  you 
say  that  the  law  arbitrarily  dooms  a  soul  to  eternal  woe, 
you. misinterpret  it ;  if  you  strilve  it  from  your  concep- 
tion of  the  universe,  you  debilitate  the  Gospel,  and 
strike  out  the  pedal  terrors,  that,  none  the  less  for 
Christ's  coming,  roar  around  a  deliberately  evil  choice. 
The  Methodist  cluster  of  pipes  waken  for  us,  when 
they  are  opened,  more  of  the  gamut  of  grace.  We 
draw  them  for  the  hallelujahs.  Some  stops  are  ranged 
fbx  the  mystic  melodies  that  flow  from  the  key-note  of 
the  Gospel  of  John.  There  are  wailing  pipes  to  tell 
of  a  depravity  of  human  life^  dreadful  as  the  plummet 
of  Augustine  ever  sounded ;  and  to  balance  them  the 
reeds  of  cheer  so  publish  the  glory  of  human  nature 
high  and  lustrous  as  the  vision  that  charmed  the  up- 
ward look  of  Channing.  There  is  the  practical  range 
answering  to  that  solid  substance  in  true  religion 
which  no  moralists,  wedded  to  the  Epistle  of  James, 
can  set  forth  too  roughly.  And  there  are  keys  to  in- 
terpret the  correspondences  between  the  celestial  and 
the  visible  world,  which  are  as  penetrating  and  com- 
prehensive as  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  and  the  un- 
counted volumes  of  Swedenborg  would  disclose. 
Others  are  the  Dulciana  stops  to  sprinkle  the  sweet- 
ness of  the  Gospel.  And  surely  the  truth  of  the  love 
of  God,  his  patient,  pleading,  never -tiring  love,  is 
sweet  as  the  most  trusting  Universalism,  the  Viol 
d' Amour  stop  in  Christendom,  ever  breathed.     The 


364  PTTTS-STREET    CHAPEL   LECTURES. 

Universalists  m^j  be  wrong  in  plentiful  instances  in 
their  rendering  of  texts,  and  the  combination  of  proofs 
for  their  doctrine  from  Scripture ;  but  in  this  senti- 
ment, and  in  their  faith  that  the  love  of  God  for  eacii 
soul  will  last  as  long  as  His  justice,  and  as  long  as 
eternity,  they  are  not  wrong.  Only,  both  the  truths 
must  go  together.  The  grace  and  the  bass  must  inter- 
blend,  one  giving  body  to  the  other,  —  neither  must  be 
hampered  by  fetters  of  time,. or  interpreted  in  regard  to 
time,  —  before  you  get  the  true  harmony  of  the  Spirft. 
And  now,  if  I  may  gather  up  all  that  I  have  been 
trying  to  say  through  this  too  long  discourse  in  a 
statement  suggested  by  this  last  symbol  of  the  organ, 
let  me  say  that  only  those  elements  of  the  faith  and 
life  of  every  church  that  can  pass  up  into  anthems, 
chants,  and  hymns,  as  an  offering  to  the  Infinite,  — 
only  those  sentiments  which  can  be  set  to  music, — are 
its  worthy  and  enduring  elements.  You  cannot  put 
proofs  of  the  Trinity,  or  controversial  supports  of  the 
Unity  of  God,  —  the  logic  of  Bishop  Bull,  or  the 
arguments  of  Professor  Norton,  —  into  hymns.  You 
cannot  put  the  difference  between  a  feeling  of  the 
depravity  cf  nature,  and  of  the  depravity  of  con- 
duct and  life,  into  a  Psalm.  When  three  souls 
feel  equally  the  riches  of  Infinite  love,  though  one 
receives  it  through  a  Trinitarian,  another  through  an 
Arian,  another  through  a  Humanitarian  dogma,  you 
could  not  put  their  disputes  about  the  size  of  the  win- 


MR.  king's  lecture.  365 

dow  through  which  they  obtain  their  light,  into  a 
chorus.  You  cannot  chant  rubrics,  and  the  hostilities 
of  catechisms,  and  thirty-nine  Articles,  and  Canons  of 
the  Council  of  Trent,  and  damnatory  clauses  of  the 
Athanasian  creed. 

But  reverence  for  God,  devout  prostration  before  the 
law  which  "the  Father"  represents;  penitent  love 
answering  to  the  pity  and  sacrifice  which  "  The  Son  " 
interprets,  and  devotion  to  humanity  out  of  such  con- 
secration; joy  in  the  ever-present  grace,  and  prayer  for 
the  quickening  life  which  "  The  Spirit "  symbolizes ; 
adoration  of  Infinite  holiness,  submission  to  Infinite 
sovereignty,  grateful  trust  in  Infinite  compassion, — 
sentiments  in  which,  when  developed  free,  Trinitarian 
and  Unitarian,  Calvinist  and  Arminian,  Partialist  and 
Universalist,  come  at  once  into  fellowship,  —  these  fly 
to  music  for  expression. 

We  shall  drop  our  contentions  about  Trinity  and 
Unity,  about  free  will  and  constraining  election,  when 
we  reach  heaven.  We  may  not  understand,  even  to 
eternity,  the  constitution  of  the  Infinite  personality ; 
but  alienations  on  account  of  mental  measurings  of 
substantial  truth  will  not  obtain  there.  There  will 
be  no  reverend  Angels  to  preach  on  such  themes  as, 
Why  am  I  a  Calvinist,  a  Baptist,  or  an  Episcopalian  ? 
But  no  doubt  we  shall  still  be  ranged  there,  as  here,  by 
the  sentiments  to  which  we  most  naturally  give  utter- 
ance.    And  we  shall  see  there,  doubtless,  what  need 


SGG  Pr;TS-STREET   CHAPEL    LECTUPEB. 

there  is  of  the  utmost  power  of  every  party  to  celebrate 
the  circle  of  the  Divine  glory;  how  deep  is  the  justice, 
how  broad  the  providence,  how  high  the  love,  that  must 
he  acknowledged  in  the  twined  harmony  of  heavenly 
hosannas. 

Let  us  pray  that  we  may  yield  oar  mind  and  will 
to  the  Spirit ;  that  by  its  light  we  may  see  through  our 
creeds  into  the  all-important  verities  of  the  substantial 
world ;  that  we  may  be  in  life  and  worship  instru- 
ments of  Christian  music,  more  than  soldiers  of  Cai- 
vinistic  or  Unitarian  camps ;  and  that  we  may  be 
lifted,  at  last,  by  the  Spirit  to  that  world  where  we 
shall  experience  the  truth  that,  "  whether  there  be 
prophecies,  they  shall  fail ;  whether  there  l>e  tongues, 
tliey  shall  cease  ;  whether  there  be  knowledge,  it  shall 
vanish  away  "  before  the  charity  that  "  never  faileth," 
which  gives  the  "  unity  of  the  Spirit,"  and  is  "  the  ful- 
filling of  the  law." 


